US Thalidomide Survivors in the News
DonateUS Thalidomide Survivors BLOG
Why we had to make “Thalidomide in the USA: the Forgotten Survivors”
The fact that the world still thinks there were no -- or very few -- thalidomide survivors born in the US is still a source of amazement for me. We have done an exceptional job, I feel, of documenting our story in this website, and traffic has increased each month. US...
A 60th anniversary, and “Prescribing Horror” — a week for thalidomide
It has been a week in the thalidomide world. November 27 marked the 60th anniversary of the market withdrawal of Contergan (the German trademark name for thalidomide). This anniversary was commemorated by the German Association of People affected by Thalidomide...
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 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
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
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
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
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...
My Life in Shorthand — Chapter 1
An autoBIOGRAPHICAL MINISERIES Part One of how Thalidomide affected my life.... Do you remember that Steve Martin movie where his character starts out by saying "I was born a poor black child." ? He said that cuz everyone he looked at, his whole family, was black. At...
The Glass Ceiling of Thalidomide
I am sitting right now, looking upward at a glass ceiling right above my head, so close that it concerns me. I can see where I want to go, but I can’t get there.