Polio was eradicated in the United States decades ago, but for its victims the consequences of the disease never end.
They describe themselves as post-polio and, as they age, weakened muscles from long ago begin to cause new problems. Many are members of The Villages Post-Polio Support Group, which met Friday at SeaBreeze Recreation Center.
Marie Bogdonoff had polio at age 3 in 1956. She recently fell, breaking a bone in her foot, and uses crutches.
“What happens when we have post-polio is we don’t have the stability,” she said.
Kay Mosure was paralyzed from the waist down after she got polio in 1949. Today, she shows no outward signs of the disease, but it left her with a lifelong inability to participate in sports and other physical activities.
“I still had what most people consider a normal life, but there are things you compensate for,” she said, adding that many post-polio people developed great inner strength because they were expected to be as normal as possible.
Barbara Meyers had just started kindergarten when she got polio at age 5. She had about 10 surgeries to replace weakened muscles with stronger ones from elsewhere in her body. She also was among those treated with hot wool blankets intended to relax the damaged muscles and ease pain.
“As bad as those wool blankets were, I think it was better than all the surgeries,” she said.
The support group was started by Don and JoAn Suttle in 1999 and has had about 200 members through the years. It allows post-polio people to share their experiences and information about medical services and equipment.
“We’re the lucky ones,” Meyers said. “Many people did not survive.”
Hospital wards filled with child polio victims, some in iron lungs, now are part of history and the disease no longer exists in our country. Rotary Club International, assisted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has a mission to abolish the disease worldwide by 2018.
Tom Reed of the Rotary Club of The Villages – Evening said the three local clubs are sponsoring an event on Oct. 24, which is World Polio Day and the birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the first vaccine. The clubs will offer coffee and donuts from 7 to 11 a.m. at a tent in front of Winn-Dixie, 820 Old Camp Road, near Lake Sumter Landing.
Reed said polio eradication has been a Rotary project since 1985. Rotary is part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which also includes the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He said club members worldwide have donated $1.3 billion for the cause.
“We’re close to eradicating polio worldwide,” he said. “The number of new polio cases each year has been reduced from about 350,000 in 1988 to just 400 in 2013.”
