Hole In The Head: A Life Revealed
The story introduces Vertus Hardiman and nine other children, each attending the same elementary school in Lyles Station Indiana in 1927, were severely irradiated during a medical experiment conducted at the local county hospital. The experiment was misrepresented as a newly developed cure for the scalp fungus known as ringworm. But in reality, the ringworm fungus was merely the lure used to gain access to innocent children whose unsuspecting parents blindly signed permission slips for the treatment. My friend Vertus was only five years old and the youngest.
As remarkable and shocking as the story may appear, this film is not an indictment of inhumane government-sanctioned medical experimentation. Rather Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed reflects the unique strength of one man who survived the harshest imaginable circumstances through the power of his attitude. His simplicity and life philosophy always lifted the spirits of all he touched. The film and book stress a mentoring relationship, based on love and forgiveness.