You will see, on the Rotary International sites, photos like the one above of the last polio victims in India and other foreign countries. Samir, second from the right, 4 yeas old now, runs and plays with a slight limp, thanks to physical therapy. Thanks to your donations to Polio Plus, India and the South West Asia region and the USA are, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), officially polio-free. Donate now.

But did you know that one of the last polio victims in the USA lives right here in the Columbia Region?

His name is Jamie Fowler. At two years old, he, like Samir, became a polio victim, leaving him with a right leg that would not grow and, initially, wheelchair bound. He got the polio virus from the live Salk vaccine that was being used at that time.  This vaccine is no longer used in the US – since 2000. Jamie has, through surgery and his own physical, body building perseverance, learned to walk, albeit with a limp, without a crutch or walker. Jamie is in his late 30s now and has a family of his own.  “Like” his Facebook page.

But, see and hear Jamie’s full story on video by clicking here. Photo credit: Rotarian Allison Kwesell [Rotary Club of Chattanooga (Tennessee) Breakfast].  We’ll have a speaker, Eric Brenner, MD, on polio in the world on our meeting on October 24, 2014, RI’s World Polio Day.