My aunt lost her first child (one and only boy) at 6 months and he was so ‘bad’, they wouldn’t let her see him.
Flash forward 30 years later in the 90’s and I was pregnant with my first child. Morning sickness was really dragging me down and my elderly aunt says “Get your doctor to give you that morning sickness pill.” I had to explain to her what it was and what it caused and for the first time she heard about how horrible it was and put two and two together...
She lived in a VERY rural area and the only doctor in town certainly wouldn’t admit a medicine he gave out like candy to local moms caused these birth defects and she never knew. So sad.
Are you sure she took thalidomide? It never was approved for use in the US as a morning sickness drug.
According to the wiki article, an unknown amount of thalidomide tablets were distributed to physicians in the US as part of a clinical testing program. Still, the US was not as affected as Europe.