Steve Clark
This story is about a child that was never expected to survive polio and the support that his parents and others gave him through his recovery. It is also about God’s hand in the miracle of life and the blessings of his foundation in God and the teachings of the Bible. In the darkest time of his illness, God reached into a gray-black lake and brought him back to life. This story describes how his family remained ever hopeful for his recovery even when being told he had died and later being told he would only live for a few more days. Within days of being told he was still alive, his parents were informed his life expectancy would be a few months or years. Without their belief in hard work, self-reliance, and God’s plan, they would never have been able to cope with the severity of bulbar polio. His family’s strong belief that God had a plan for them gave him hope that would lead him through the recovery process. It tells the story of what the poliovirus did to him physically, mentally, and spiritually and how he and his family responded to it. God never left their side through the exhausting trials of learning to speak and move again. This story also explains the long-lingering effects of post-polio syndrome and how it still plays a role in his life and as well as many other survivors. Throughout the story, hope is ever-present in him, and it reflects how hope gave him the strength to survive and improve through the pain of the recovery process.
