A7

By Jacques-François Levesque

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Rotary Clubs in Grand Falls and Perth-Andover have joined the fight of a young Whitehorse, Yukon resident to make the world polio free. Rotarians provided funds, accommodations and support to Remesh Ferris and his Cycle to Walk team as they are making their way across Canada to raise money and awareness about the dreaded disease.

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Polio is slated to become only the second disease eradicated in human history and Ramesh Ferris wants to see it happen. On April 12, Ferris, a 28-year-old polio survivor from Whitehorse, Yukon, set off from Mile 0 in Victoria, BC on a hand-cycle trip across Canada enroute to Cape Spear, Newfoundland to raise funds and bring awareness of the need to bring awareness and funding to the disease of polio. He hopes to conclude the journey in late September or early October, averaging 75 km per day.

Ramesh departed on his hand-cycle with a four-member road team in a motorhome and SUV pulling a trailer and a lot of hope and enthusiasm that the Cycle to Walk campaign could bring attention to the devastating affects of polio.

"Smallpox was eradicated in 1979 and polio could be next," stated Ferris, whose Cycle to Walk campaign made a stopover in the Grand Falls area last Wednesday, Aug. 27. "We have all the tools we need to finish this job. Polio levels are down 99 percent worldwide, but we need to give it one final push," he added.

"Many Canadians think that polio is no longer a threat, but it is only a plane ride away. We have a unique opportunity to eradicate polio worldwide, through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the largest public health project in world history. However, this requires continued funding, and continued immunization at home," stated Ferris.

Cycle to Walk is promoting the WHO message that "A country is not polio free until the world is polio free."

The team's stay in the Grand Falls area was hosted by the Grand Falls Rotary Club which also made a $200 donation to Ferris' cause.

Rotary Club president Conrad Toner and his wife Linda provided overnight accommodation at their home to the group. The next morning, the group was invited by the Rotary Club's past president, Francine Kanhai and her husband Errol to have breakfast at their restaurant in St. André.

In Perth-Andover, the Rotarians hosted Ferris and invited guests from other service clubs and health care organizations to hear his story and learn about the devastating effects of polio. Club president John Larsen also presented him with a $200 cheque to support his cause.

Ferris contracted polio in infancy in India when he was six months old, and was placed in an orphanage when his birth mother could no longer look after him. Polio left his legs paralyzed. After being adopted to Canada by an Anglican bishop and his wife in Whitehorse, Ramesh received the surgeries and rehabilitative support that have allowed him to walk with braces and a cane.

But Ramesh has gone far beyond walking. He has become one of Yukon's elite athletes. He swims 100 laps of the Canada Games pool at a time, plays wheelchair basketball, and hand-cycles in competitive races, though his passion has become endurance cycling. Ramesh was selected as one of the bearers of the Yukon torch, on its way to Whitehorse for the Canada Winter Games last year.

Following a visit to India to meet his birth mother and to visit the orphanage from which he was adopted, Ramesh felt called to do what he could to help with the world-wide eradication of polio, and the rehabilitation of polio victims in poor countries.

"I decided to hand-cycle across Canada in order to raise awareness about the disease and to raise funds for polio eradication and rehabilitation. I called my project ‘Cycle To Walk'. Of the money raised, 75 per cent is to go to Rotary International's PolioPlus which has been partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and local governments for over 20 years to carry out mass immunizations in polio endemic and high-risk areas," he stated.

"Twenty per cent of the money raised will go towards providing rehabilitative support to polio survivors; the society will disseminate the funds to various identified charities for this purpose," Ferris added. "The remaining five per cent is to go to educating Canadians about polio and the need for parents to continue to vaccinate their children. For any parent who is questioning whether or not to vaccinate their children, they need only to look at my legs and look at my experience and to know that this is happening to children all over the world and that it's not needed."

Promoting the message

"The World Health Organization predicts an additional 10 million children will be paralyzed over the next 40 years without the continuation of the polio eradication program," Ferris said. "I'm on this hand-cycle because I don't want to see any child in this world live with the effects of this disease which is completely preventable through vaccination which costs 60 cents a dose. Three doses protects a child for life. I'm disturbed by the fact that we've had the polio vaccination for over 53 years yet 11 per cent or just over 3.5 million Canadians are not vaccinated against polio, putting our country at risk of future polio outbreaks!"

The fight to eradicate polio, led by Rotary International and the World Health Organization, is the largest public health initiative in world history. Annual funding shortfalls are preventing complete success, and money is urgently needed to fill the funding gap.

"When the WHO confirms that we are living in a polio-free world, I would hope that each Canadian will say that they played a part in that by supporting the Cycle to Walk tour and the overall eradication initiative," said Ferris, "and that every Canadian will be proud to demonstrate to the rest of the world that we are all global leaders in the fight against polio."

Cycle to Walk has raised over a quarter million dollars to date. The campaign aims to raise $1 million before reaching Cape Spear next month. Progress can be monitored on the Cycle to Walk website www.cycyletowalk.com.