Today is World Polio Day. It’s not a day for crepe paper streamers and marching bands. But that day is coming. Soon. Very soon. World Polio Day is meant for us to honor the tremendous work that has gone into eradicating polio from this planet.
I think I’ll bake a cake to honor Jonas Salk.
My father-in-law had polio as a child. He never spoke of the details. I never pushed. His story is not mine to tell, but it does underscore how close polio hits to home. Those from the generation before mine can tell you about the ravages of polio. They can tell you about iron lungs and crippled children. Just google images of polio and see for yourself the devastation of this disease.
Polio is preventable.
Just watch and listen to Martha Mason, a North Carolina native who spent 60 years living in an iron lung.
Martha wrote a book about her life. “I live with a stable of nightmares, but hope keeps them in harness.”
As the world becomes more connected, it’s easy to see how disease travels exponentially faster than back in the day. Not far from where I live in North Carolina, there was a measles outbreak recently. I suffered through whooping cough a while back. It was devastating, and doctors were ill-equipped to diagnose it since it was all but eradicated. Disease travels and doesn’t need a passport.
Polio is this close to being eradicated. This. Close. This is a pretty big fucking deal. There’s no other way to express it.
India, where I was born, has battled and won the war on polio. These are the sorts of wars I can stand behind.
The U.S. Senate has just introduced an important resolution in honor of World Polio Day and polio eradication efforts worldwide. Please help to make this a congressional priority. A bipartisan group of Senators has introduced Senate Resolution 270; supporting the goals and ideas of World Polio Day this year (S. Res. 270).
Contact your Senators NOW to urge them to co-sponsor the resolution and take a stand to stop polio once and for all.
Polio has been eradicated by 99% worldwide. We know U.S. funding and leadership is critical in the fight to end polio, and if we do not act now, we will miss a historic opportunity to eradicate this debilitating disease for good. While we grow old and wax about the goings on and accomplishments of our lifetime, can you imagine how profound it will be to tell our grandchildren we helped eradicate polio?! We are making strides and making history, and this is the final inch.
Even my young sons, ages 10 and 8, have started their own blogs and wrote about World Polio Day.
Support Shot@Life to help eradicate polio. We are an army of moms, dads, friends, and fighters. We can do this.
Let’s honor Martha Mason today.
Let’s honor her brother, who died of polio at age 13.
And let’s honor her parents. Can you fathom their grief?
Thanks for posting this, Ilina. My grandfather had polio as a young adult. He was an amazing person and although I’m sure he endured much emotional and physical pain through the years, he did not let it stop him. Thanks for bringing attention to World Polio Day.