A6

By Robert LaFrance

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The projected date for the arrival in the Upper St. John River Valley area of Ramesh Ferris, a 28-year-old polio survivor who is hand cycling across Canada, is Wednesday or Thursday.

Ferris, whose story is told at http://www.cycletowalk.com/, left Victoria, BC on April 12 on his way to Cape Spear, Newfoundland, which he hopes to reach on Oct. 1. Ferris, born in India, was adopted by Canadian parents in 1982. He can walk with the assistance of braces and crutches but his legs are not strong enough to propel a conventional bicycle. He rides a hand cycle which relies on upper body strength to maximize distance and speed; this has meant an average of 40 kilometres a day and during each stop he makes his best effort to awaken people to the threat of polio which is still found in parts of the world.

Ferris visited India in 2002 and witnessed the reality for polio victims; upon his return to Canada, he vowed to help and Cycle to Walk was born. He and his team chose to leave on his fund-rasing and awareness raising journey on April 12 because that day is the anniversary of Dr. Jonas Salk's release of the first polio vaccine.

Ramesh Ferris will visit schools, service clubs, healthcare providers and various levels of government along the route. Three-quarters of the funds raised during his journey will go toward eradicating polio through Rotary International's PolioPlus program via the Rotary Foundation of Canada to help conduct mass immunizations in endemic and at-risk regions. The other quarter of the money raised will go toward rehabilitation and education.

Ferris was born in 1979 in Coimbatore, India, where he contracted polio at six months; his legs were left paralyzed for life. His mother had no access to the supports he needed to live a healthy life, so after a year of struggling she placed him in the care of a Canadian orphanage called Families for Children.

"We are on the brink of making history. Let's get excited about making polio history so that we can continue the work of ridding the world of other diseases," he said in a recent interview.