Local women recount experiences with polio

OMAGH Rotary Club organised a special lunch involving members and guests to mark World Polio Day.

The event raised funds for Polio Plus, the Rotary initiative towards eradicating polio worldwide.

Rotary members the world over have been taking part in the scheme for 35 years. They have contributed more than $2.1 billion to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from this paralysing disease.

Each club has a target of raising $55 per member and the Omagh club will contribute $2,100 (£1,600) this year. It costs just $3 for each polio vaccination.

The Omagh club first supported Polio Plus through a sponsored walk to Newtownstewart in 1984, and have contributed each year since.

Along with other organisations, including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary has helped stop the spread of wild poliovirus in all but two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, although there are pockets in other countries. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio paralysed or killed over half a million people worldwide each year, including in developed countries. In the year to June 2024, just under 700 cases were identified worldwide.

Two people with experience of polio, Elaine Waterson and Katharine Wilson, spoke at the Rotary event.

Both hail from the same area of East Donegal and contracted polio as young girls. Their illnesses were to have long-term physical consequences: indeed post-polio reactions remain widespread, though little reported, for many people.

Ironically, those two young girls were years later to end up involved in businesses within a short distance at Omagh’s High Street, the Royal Arms Hotel and the Carlisle bookshop.

Very Rev Liz FitzGerald, Rural Dean of Raphoe and Inishwoen, outlined Rotary’s continued pledge.

Rotary Cub President, Peter Waterson, thanked all who have given continued support to a vital campaign that is making a difference to so many young children the world over.

Meanwhile, the Rotary Club will join Omagh’s Inner Wheel club for a coffee morning in South West College on November 21 to raise funds for Marie Curie. All support from the public welcome.

Looking further ahead, the traditional ‘Tree of Remembrance’ at Christmas will raise funds for Air Ambulance NI and Rotary charities.