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Despite Ingeborg's paralysis, doctors were able to remove her rom the iron lung long enough for birth of her third child a normal, healthy baby girl named Dolores.
I Am an "Iron-Lung" Mother
Twice she has left a respirator to deliver children; now she vows to ieave it forever
By INGEBORG CULLY
FOR the second time since I was stricken with
paralytic polio four years ago, doctors re
moved me from my iron lung last August for the
birth of a baby.
For a moment, the team of six doctors let my
husband, Army Sgt. Jack Cully, press my useless
hand. I knew that for every labor pain I endured,
he was undergoing threefold torments.
Through a tube inserted in my neck, oxygen was
forced into my lungs during the hour it required
to deliver the beautiful baby girl we named Do
lores. Next, I dimly remember being rolled back
into the iron lung which has been my prison since
July 16, 1956, the day before I gave birth to my
first son, Jackie.
Today the fears I lived with for months have
been replaced by the joys of having a healthy in
fant girl. And now with my loved ones around me
again and with kind neighbors to help, I feel on the
threshold of a new career taking care of my
family and of our home in New York City.
I know tilts career won't be easy. Except for a
little movement in my legs, I am paralyzed from
my neck down. But since God in His bounty has
given us another baby, I am determined to show
my gratitude by becoming a homemaker again.
Certainly I am far better off than I was. For one
thing, the March of Dimes of the National Founda
tion has spent almost $25,000 to bring me to the
point where I can think about doing things for
others instead of the other way around. Today I
can breathe by means of a chest respirator while
in my wheel chair or rocking bed, instead of living
in the iron lung. And I pray for the success of an
experimental artificial muscle which may permit
me to move my arms and hands some day.
There already are some things I can do at home.
If he holds up the book, I can read aloud to Jackie.
And with one foot, I can gently prod him on his
bottom when he's naughty. I tutor Helen, 10, our
oldest child, with her homework, often while she's
combing my hair or exercising my fingers. With
National Foundation aid, I have taught myself to
use an electric typewriter, using a "mouth stick"
to write my parents in Berlin, Germany, where I
met and married my GI husband 11 years ago. I
can even switch on the TV set with my toes.
These activities may seem meager, even trivial,
but I feel they are hopeful steps toward the day I
will leave my wheel chair and walk beside my
husband and children.
That day I will be a real homemaker again.
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With the aid of a chest respirator, Ingeborg can sit up
while she tutors hjr oldest child, Helen, who is now ten.
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COVER:
Sweet and sassy, actress Shirley AfacLaine
is known to fans for the unique talent she
has of bringing tears to our eyes or mak
ing us laugh with a simple gesture or a few
words. Read Shirley's own story on page 8.
Family
Weekly
January 29, 1961
IEONARO S. DAVIDOW 'mirfrtlt and VuMMtr
WALTER C. DREYFUS I'irr PmidrM
PATRICK E. O'ttOURKE Adrrrtinna lhrci,
MORTON FRANK Dimtar of PMUhtr Refationa
Snd ail odvrtliing communications to Fotnlly Weekly,
Board of Editors
153 N. Michigan Aye, Chicago 1, III.
Addreti all communication! about editorial Features to
Family Weekly. 60 E. 56th St., New York 22, N. Y.
ERNEST V. HEYN F.dUor-in-Ckiel
BEN KARTMAN n'rn-iitier Kdilor
ROBERT FITZOIBBON Managing Krfitor
MARGARET BEll Failure Editor
PHILLIP DYKSTRA Art Director
MELANIE DE PROFT Food Editor
Bob Dritcoll, John Hochmann, Jerry Klein, Harold London,
Murray Miller, Jack Ryanj Peer Oppenhelmer, Hollywood.
IT IH1, FAMILY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, INC., 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago I, III. All right! reserved.