WalkAmerica takes steps for healthy babies

What happens when an organization established to fight a crippling disease actually succeeds? In the March of Dimes' case, that organization breathes a sigh of relief, then embraces new goals and works just as hard to achieve them. The decade was the 1930s. The disease was polio, which robbed its victims, usually children, of muscle strength and control. It spread mostly during warm weather, bringing fear to outdoor summer activities. Those not killed by polio no longer could walk. They faced a grim future of disability marked by leg braces, canes, wheelchairs and iron lungs.