ROTARY WATCH AUSTRALIA FULL
In my late teens, the crutches were replaced with a walking stick and ankle-foot orthoses on my left leg and full calliper on my right leg.” “I slept in a Thomas Splint, which is kind of like being crucified lying down, and eventually walked with callipers and crutches. "Polio comes on like a very bad flu, so I was taken to Hamilton Hospital and diagnosed there some spinal fluid,” Absalom told Global Citizen. In 1953, just months shy of his sixth birthday, Paul Absalom contracted polio.Īlmost 70 years later, Absalom continues to live with a curvature of the spine and an almost totally paralysed right leg, which means he requires a mobility scooter to get around as of three years ago. 24, Global Citizen listened as survivors across Australia explained how the deadly disease has affected them, how they would like the Australian Government to address eradication efforts and why polio and COVID-19 draw so many parallels. In the lead-up to World Polio Day on Oct. It's also vital to understand, they explained, that polio continues to affect their lives, with many now living with post-polio syndrome - a variety of symptoms that occur decades after the initial polio illness. Today, in 2021, polio only remains present in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with each nation recording just one case so far this year.Īustralia’s 40,000 polio survivors want everyone to know, however, that polio is not over that as long as one polio case exists, the world remains at risk.