I was born in Joliet, Ill., south of Chicago. We lived above my grandparents. This was during the Great Depression. No jobs, no money, no “bennies” given out as they are now ­ food stamps, rent subsidies, medical, etc., etc. We were poor!

I caught whooping cough (pertussis) about age three. I remember feeling bad, miserable, coughing, hot fever, sneezing, coughing, vomiting, nose bleeding, coughing and crying. I was sick!

To complicate my life, I also came down with scarlet fever. Sore throat, headache, and of course, coughing. Between my mother and Scottish grandmother, I survived. No antibiotics, penicillin, etc., back then.

This is not meant to scare anyone, but to educate people on the possible problems of this preventable disease. It is no fun! However, it is preventable. Modern and timely vaccines/boosters make this disease, basically, non-existant. A needle poke, five minutes of crying, maybe a day of slight reaction to the vaccine is much easier to tolerate than four to six weeks of coughing and other related complications that accompany this disease.

R.E. “Bob” Henderson

Oak Harbor