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Book Review: WONDER DRUG

Book Review: WONDER DRUG

This book for me has been 61 years in the making. I am a character in the book — honestly, I really am. And so are a lot of my friends from U.S. Thalidomide Survivors, a nonprofit formed only a few years ago in 2018. This book is us. This book literally helped us find...

Jan Garrett

Jan Garrett

My name is Jan Taylor Garrett, and I serve as an at-large member of the U.S. Thalidomide Survivors Board of Directors. I love my husband Dan, kitties, all things purple, and my friends and family. I was born in February of 1962 in Oklahoma City, OK. My disability is...

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction You can call me "JoJo." My name is Jose Martynov G. Calora. I was born in 1962 in Ithaca, New York, with congenital deformities in my upper extremities. I have short arms, no elbows, and three fingers on each hand. The technical term is phocomelia. My...

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 5

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 5

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES I was excited to move to a new place and happy to be back on an Army Base. I later learned that was probably due to the maturity level of Army Brats as they are lovingly referred to by all. After the miserable year of having only 1/2 of...

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 4

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 4

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES My sister was not just 8 years older but she was a TALL teenager. i was 4 feet tall when she was 6 feet tall. She  kept me tough by wrestling with me, giving me grief if I ate like a slob, and teased me if i wet my pants. She said "they...

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 3

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 3

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES Less than a year after that lonely horrid hospital stay we moved to Massachusettes (from Va.) 1st time we lived off an Army base. We had a super cool kid-friendly house cuz the entire daylight basement was turned into a playhouse for me...

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 2

My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 2

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES I was born in Germany to white American parents stationed in Frankfurt. My mother had always been worried she'd get pregnant but never really wanted children. My sister was born 8 years my senior. She was born unable to move her neck to...