A group affiliated to Geelong Polio Support Group is headed to India next week on 22 January, on wheelchairs and crutches, to fulfill a deeply personal cause. Gary Newton, Jennifer Merrett, Jan McDonald and Dalice Dalton, now aged in their 60s and 70s, all contracted polio as children during the 1950s, and dream of a world which is polio-free.
They want to make a start in India.
Speaking to SBS Punjabi Gary Newton says, "Although India was declared polio-free in 2011 and no new cases have been reported since then, it has the highest number of unvaccinated children under the age of 5, many of whom go on to die due to preventable diseases."
Gary Newton and members of his Polio Project heading to India Source: Supplied
"And its closes neighbour Pakistan is still not polio-free. In fact I just read an article today, which says that although there isn't an increase in the number of polio cases in Pakistan, in recent times, authorities are finding much of the polio vaccination in the sewage system."
Gary and his team have been planning this trip to India for many months now and in the process, have been able to raise well over $60,000. "Half of that is going to Polio Australia, so they can run awareness programs here - it's been over a generation since polio was reported in Australia and but it is vital that health professionals know about the disease."
Gary Newton was inflicted by polio as a child, two years before the polio vaccine became freely available in Australia.
Currently, 80 to 90 per cent of Gary's legs and 30 per cent of his arms are paralysed, because of which he uses crutches to go about his daily routine. Yet he dreams of a world that is polio free and wants to make a very personal contribution to the cause.
"This is my passion project - it will be an honour to administer polio drops to children in India on the National Immunisation Day on January 28. It will be a satisfying feeling to know that we have personally prevented another child from being afflicted by polio."
Source: Supplied
"Also, this will be a tribute to our parents, who worked so hard to look after as as polio survivors. I know they would have done anything to prevent us from getting it. This is our way of saying thank you to our parents, by paying it forward to the children of India," Gary Newton said to SBS Punjabi.
More stories and interviews from SBS Punjabi
Three Aussies on a personal crusade to keep India polio-free
