Episode 3: A Candle Against the Dark
In the first two episodes, we listened as the Chinnery family got the bad news that two of their sons had contracted polio. After searching the city for a hospital that would care for their most seriously ill son, George, they finally ended up at General Hospital, now known as Truman Medical Center. The staff at General were unable to save him and George passed away overnight. The broken hearted parents hardly had said good bye to their oldest son, when polio struck all their remaining sons Richard was most seriously ill and George and Ardyce took their son to General Hospital. This time, thanks to the intervention of a dedicated intern Richard was given the proper care. A Good Samaritan donated blood to help Richard as well. The 2nd episode concluded with the story of Wytheville, Virginia, the town that had the highest per capita cases of polio in 1950.