A CONEY ISLAND FREAK SHOW SAVED MY LIFE!

Lucille Horn was doomed from birth, or so the doctors said. Born prematurely, she weighed just two pounds, small enough to fit in her father's palm. 

Doctors took the position that if Mother Nature birthed you early like that, she did not want you to survive. Very few did.

Lucille Horn at Coney Island, age 94                                                                            (AP photo)

Many of the ones that did, like Lucille, who died just recently at age 96, were saved by a Coney Island freak show exhibit.

The New York Times

Their savior was a man named Martin Couney. He was apparently not a medical doctor himself, but he ran a spotless side show and hired well-trained doctors and nurses to help him, and the children, "freaks of nature," survive and thrive.

Martin Couney with two of his "freaks."

It took half a century or so, but the medical profession finally came around and embraced Couney's incubators. Now, of course, you can't have a neonatal unit without them. Onward to the next fresh hell.

You can find the whole story here and here.