For many Rotarians, the effort to build a world free of polio is a personal one. They have seen brothers, sisters and other loved ones die from this crippling disease.
When Sharon Ellis became Pismo Beach Club President, she told me that the Polio Plus Program was a top priority of hers.
You see Sharon Ellis remembers only too well the heart break of Polio. Sharon was only 6 years old on that November day in 1948 in Bakersfield Ca, when her mother Alice Kathryn Bustamante, was feeling ill that day and, walked out of their home, and was driven to the Hospital.
When Sharon Ellis became Pismo Beach Club President, she told me that the Polio Plus Program was a top priority of hers.
You see Sharon Ellis remembers only too well the heart break of Polio. Sharon was only 6 years old on that November day in 1948 in Bakersfield Ca, when her mother Alice Kathryn Bustamante, was feeling ill that day and, walked out of their home, and was driven to the Hospital.
Sharon stood with her 3-year-old little sister as her mother turned to her at the back-yard gate and said, “now you be good little girls.”
Sharon and her little sister never saw their mother again. She had Polio and died December 6th, 1948, in an iron lung.
Later that same month Sharon was diagnosed with polio. She was quarantined in her house for 1 year and was fitted for corrective shoes and braces she wore until she was 13 years old.
This is what it was like in America before the Polio Vaccine.
This is what it was like in 1987 all over world when Rotarians saw a world where children and their mothers were protected against polio and other preventable childhood diseases.
We saw a world united to fight these diseases and immunize all the children of the world. Because of $1,000.00 contributions, like the ones made by our recipients today, over a billion children have been immunized against polio.
Shown in the photo is Pismo Beach International Service Director Steve Curry and Sharon Ellis presenting her Granddaughters, Elise Garnsey and Erin Garnsey their Paul Harris Awards.
Sharon and her little sister never saw their mother again. She had Polio and died December 6th, 1948, in an iron lung.
Later that same month Sharon was diagnosed with polio. She was quarantined in her house for 1 year and was fitted for corrective shoes and braces she wore until she was 13 years old.
This is what it was like in America before the Polio Vaccine.
This is what it was like in 1987 all over world when Rotarians saw a world where children and their mothers were protected against polio and other preventable childhood diseases.
We saw a world united to fight these diseases and immunize all the children of the world. Because of $1,000.00 contributions, like the ones made by our recipients today, over a billion children have been immunized against polio.
Shown in the photo is Pismo Beach International Service Director Steve Curry and Sharon Ellis presenting her Granddaughters, Elise Garnsey and Erin Garnsey their Paul Harris Awards.
