Community & Clubs: Celebrating researchers while remembering polio’s victims

As I get older, the more sentimental I get.

Sing the national anthem at an Angels game, and I will have tears in my eyes. Marching bands, whether high school, college or the Salvation Army band, bring tears to my eyes. And so did the 2014 Rotary Rose Parade Float titled “Engage Rotary/Change Lives,” which showcased Rotary’s commitment to eradicating polio worldwide.

Two of the riders on Rotary’s float represented the giants in defeating this disease: Peter L. Salk, the oldest son of Jonas Salk, who, together with his team at the University of Pittsburgh, developed the first successful polio vaccine. Deborah Sabin is the oldest daughter of Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine.

Many will remember the horrifying panic during the years leading up to the discovery of the polio vaccines in the mid-1950s. Those in the United States made a collective sigh of relief when these vaccines became widely available — they knew that their children would no longer face this crippling and debilitating disease.

Since 1985, Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of annual cases of polio caused by wild polio viruses to fewer than 250, and they remain committed to ensuring that every child is safe from the disease. Rotarians have contributed more than $1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $9 billion to the effort and allow Rotary volunteers to administer the vaccine in Third World countries.

Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin were long known as scientific rivals. Now, their adult children have come together to honor their fathers’ work, which dramatically changed lives in the United States and across the globe by protecting against a disease that once killed or crippled 600,000 children and adults a year, including my father and brother, LeRoy.

My dad had polio as a kid on a farm in southern Minnesota. He wore a brace on a malformed leg and walked with a heavy limp. Mom got polio fever in 1955 and didn’t get out of bed for a couple of months. She was just weak and sleepy. She was never paralyzed from it, though.

In 1955, I took the polio shot and ended up in bed for a couple of weeks. I had a reaction to the shot and haven’t had the vaccine since.

My brother, now 79, was paralyzed from the neck down in 1952, just after he graduated from high school and just before he was going to Harvard on a full scholarship. He spent several years in an iron lung at the Sister Kennedy Rehabilitation Institute in Minneapolis.

He’s been on a respirator ever since and has needed daily help to eat, get dressed and get out of bed and into a wheelchair, first from our parents and, more recently, at the Benedictine Health Center of Minneapolis.

I had tears on New Year’s Day when I saw the Rotary float, tears of celebration for what Rotary and Rotarians have done, thanks to the good work of the two doctors. And tears for my brother. In fact, I have them now writing my column.

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Lunch with the ‘Lion King’

Australian Barry Palmer, the current Lions Clubs International president, and his wife, Anne, are visiting Southern California for the honor of riding the Lions float in the Rose Parade. They were also the featured guests of a luncheon hosted by the Seal Beach Lions Club on Dec. 29.

Three members from the Harbor Mesa Lions, President Cathy Waters, Joan Parks and Carol Van Holt, attended the luncheon. Palmer spoke of the importance of involving the younger generation in community work through the Leos clubs, which are the teen branches of the Lions. He also inducted 27 new members into the Seal Beach Lions Club, which is one of the largest clubs in North America.

Several members of the Harbor Mesa Lions helped prepare the Lions float for the Rose Parade, and Parks, Gloria Kimmel and Sue Seager worked at the float facility on Saturday.

“How exciting it is to see the floats up close and be a part of creating something so beautiful,” said Parks.

Check out the Harbor Mesa website for pictures and information: nhcmlionsclub.com.

Most clubs will not be meeting this week as members take time to enjoy their families and the holiday. May your New Year’s resolutions include a way of service to your neighbors, your community and the world in which we live. Check out a service club in 2014.

From my wife, Barbara, and me, best wishes for the new year!

COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Wednesdays. Send your service club’s meeting information to [email protected].