Marcia Gabriel Brown
Marcia Gabriel was diagnosed with TB in 1958 at the age of 15. Her sister Katie had been seriously ill in 1958 and was ultimately diagnosed with TB. At the time the family was living in Harrisville NY. When Katie was diagnosed with TB, the school children were immediately given the standard skin test for TB. Many children, including Marcia, were found to be positive for TB.
Katie, Marcia, and several other young people from Harrisville, were sent to the Sanatorium in Ray Brook, New York for treatment. Katie, being the more seriously ill, was completely bedridden whereas Marcia and others were encouraged to get plenty of bed rest.
Patients, Marcia recalls, had no specific daily routines at Ray Brook. There were no activities planned and most were free to do whatever they wanted to do. She and others, whose conditions were similar to hers, were encouraged simply to wander about, take walks in the fresh air. Meals were served in the cafeteria and they met there in groups. Marcia recalls a little store by the railroad tracks that they would walk to get some hot chocolate. Since there was nothing else much to do, this was a daily event that was looked forward to.
As the weather turned colder, and in the late fifties colder included temperatures in the minus thirties, patients were encouraged to make use of the lawn chairs where they could bundle up to stay warm in the brisk out of doors, getting the fresh air that was so much a part of the healing process.
In the late fifties, antibiotics had been discovered and employed in the treatment of TB. Marcia recalls a daily regimen of one dose of streptomycin, one dose of PAS (aminosalicylic acid), and two pills of isoniazid. These were powerful drugs and Marcia states that, as a 95 pound teenager, this medication basically knocked her out for a while, accompanied by dizziness, headaches, and inability to stand up. She has noted that the residual effects of these medications stayed within her system for nearly thirty years.
Marcia’s experiences at Ray Brook were not bad ones. The most difficult was being alone, totally isolated from her family. In those days, travel to Ray Brook from other parts of the New York state was difficult and expensive, and as a result many families were not able to make the trip.
Marcia and Katie entered the Sanatorium in the summer of 1958. In September, a tutor was provided to teach two to three courses for the younger patients. Marcia remembers a Typing class, and classes in American History and English. Patients were encouraged, but not pushed, to take some courses.
Marcia was cured and released from the Sanatorium in 1959. Katie was cured and released in early 1960. Their father was a Methodist minister, and in those days, ministers moved around a lot. While Marcia and Katie were in Ray Brook Sanatorium, their father was transferred from Harrisville New York to Frankfort New York, a small town in the Mohawk Valley located just east of Utica. So it was equally difficult for these teenagers to find themselves in a new community, and attending a new high school with no friends, initially.
Following her release from the sanatorium, Katie graduated high school and married. Subsequently, she underwent several bouts with cancer, ultimately succumbing to the disease at age 46.
Marcia married and with her husband and family of six children live in the western part of New York State. She does, from time to time, share her TB experiences with children and grandchildren. The grandchildren, however, find it hard to believe any teenager has ever had to endure such inconveniences and that it wasn’t a big deal if their feelings were hurt while curing.
