One of those signs Christmas is coming is Seals arriving in the mail asking for donations. For as long as I can remember, they have been a part of the holiday. The design, different each year, included the red, double-barred Cross of Lorraine. I knew the money donated was to fight tuberculosis. The lung disease was the leading cause of death in the United States during the early 20th century. At that time, physicians were just experiencing their first signs of success treating TB in special hospitals called sanitoriums. Years of rest and fresh air were the main stays of the cure. In 1907, a tiny sanitorium in Delaware had fallen on hard times and would have to close if $300 wasn’t raised to save it. Emily Bissell, a volunteer and a veteran fund raiser, came up with a plan that had worked in Denmark. She designed and printed a special holiday seal and sold them in post offices for a penny each. By the end of her holiday campaign, which was endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt, ten times the goal was raised and Christmas Seals were born.
In January of 1957, when I was nineteen, I learned about TB from the inside of the Rockford Municipal Sanitorium. After a nagging cough that defied doctor’s treatment for three months was finally diagnosed as the disease, I was admitted to the well-run institution. In 1946, streptomycin had become the accepted treatment. After five months of residence in the “San” and receiving painful shots in the butt twice a week (I was certain the needles the nurses used were rejects from WWII), I was sent home instead of spending years undergoing the rest cure. The convalescence cost nothing.
I’m thankful for the people who funded that non-profit in the past. It can be compared to planting a tree knowing that you won’t be around to enjoy its shade.
In 1971, The College of Medicine Rockford a regional campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago, was founded. TB had ended its reign as a threat to Americans and sanitoriums were closed. The three-story brick building on Parkview Avenue was utilize to train doctors. One of the physicians I’ve seen recently, said he took his schooling there.
Keeping up with the times, the organization that sponsors the seals has revised its name to the American Lung Association and fights various breathing diseases.
This time of year, we are asked to contribute for everything from children with birth defects to elephants threatened with extinction. Do you include a worthy cause in your Christmas gifts?