Cyclist putting an end to polio

By Lawrence Powell

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

With a chest like a wrestler and biceps of a weightlifter, Ramesh Ferris is a formidable figure.

“I look after myself,” he said Monday when he stopped briefly in Lawrencetown on his way to Cape Spear, NL.

Ramesh looks after himself, but he’s also trying to look after millions of others as he raises awareness and money to fight polio, the disease that paralyzed his legs when he was an infant in his native India.

The 28-year-old is hand-cycling across the country to remind Canadians that the fight to end polio isn’t over.

“Smallpox was eradicated in 1979, and polio could be next,” Ramesh said. He launched his 7,200-kilometre Cycle to Walk campaign from Victoria, BC on April 12, the anniversary of the release of Jonah Salk’s polio vaccine. “We have all the tools we need to finish this job. Polio levels are down 99 per cent worldwide, but we need to give it one final push.”

By the time he arrived in Paradise on Saturday, he’d covered more than 6,000 kilometres and was averaging 400 kilometres every 10 days on his 27-speed hand cycle. He was set to head out from Paradise Sunday morning, but Hurricane Hanna’s heavy rains and threatened high winds put a stop to those plans.

Instead, they visited with Paradise residents Dave and Linda Hankinson, close to where Ramesh and his two support vehicles had parked the night before.

Polio isn’t talked about much anymore, but Ramesh is concerned because 11 per cent of Canadians aren’t vaccinated and the disease returned to Australia in 2007 for the first time in decades. Worse still, polio remains endemic in four countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria.

There is no cure for polio, but it can be prevented through vaccination.

Ramesh spoke to the Rotary Club in New Minas this week, updating them on his journey. Rotary members are no strangers to the subject of polio and Rotary International and the World Health Organization are leading the fight to eradicate polio – the largest public health initiative in world history.

But annual funding shortfalls are preventing complete success, and money is urgently needed to fill the funding gap.

In Cycle to Walk campaign information, Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, a polio survivor, urged Canadians to support Ramesh’s efforts.

“The eradication of polio is within reach and achievable,” he said. “I hope Canadians throughout our country will support Ramesh on his quest.”

Cycle to Walk was formed after Ramesh visited his native India in 2002 and witnessed the reality for many polio survivors who crawl on the ground because they are unable to stand or walk. He was frustrated that polio vaccines have been available for 53 years, yet the disease continues to paralyze children needlessly to this day.

Current estimates predict that 10 million children will be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years if eradication is not complete.

On his return to Canada, Ramesh vowed to help.

Ramesh’s goal is to raise $1 million before reaching Cape Spear in October. The funds will go to eradication through immunization; to educate people about polio; and to help rehabilitate polio victims worldwide.

For more information or to help support polio eradication, go to www.cycletowalk.com or www.polioeradication.org. Or talk to members of your local Rotary Club and their PolioPlus campaign.