Follow Ramesh's Journey

Making a cross-country trip to eradicate the disease that “knows no boundaries”

JENNIFER VARDY LITTLE
The News—NEW GLASGOW

Ramesh Ferris lives every day with the reality of life with polio. It paralyzed his legs in infancy and impacted his lung functions, causing him to come down with pneumonia nine times before his 11th birthday.

In India, he contracted polio when he was six months old. His mother had no access to the rehabilitative supports he needed to live a healthy life, so she placed him in the care of a Canadian-founded orphanage a year later.

Ferris was lucky – he was adopted by an Anglican Bishop in the Yukon and his wife, who helped to ensure he got the surgeries and mobility aids he needed. When he was four, he learned to walk with crutches.

“I remember every day what polio can do to someone,” Ferris said. “Because I didn’t have access to the vaccine in India, where I was born, I got polio. And it wasn’t just my legs – my lungs were affected as well.”

In 2002, Ferris decided to return to India to meet his biological mother for the first time – and to visit the orphanage where he once lived. During the visit, Ferris witnessed the reality for polio survivors who weren’t as fortunate as he was – without the necessary medical attention and support, they were forced to crawl on the ground and pad their knees with cut-up pieces of tire.

That trip changed the focus of his life, making him determined to raise money to make a difference to the lives of polio survivors and to prevent polio from claiming new victims, and Cycle to Walk was born.

“I want to make Canadians wake up and support the eradication of polio,” Ferris said. “Eleven per cent of Canadians have not received vaccinations for polio because many think it’s already eradicated.”

Some people believe the myth that polio vaccines will cause problems for babies, he said, keeping them from giving their children the three doses of vaccine they need to protect them from the disease.

Although Ferris spoke with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in New Glasgow on Wednesday and was joined for a ride through town by Conservative Peter MacKay, he says the issue isn’t an election one. Instead, he says whatever party forms the government needs to make Canada a global leader in the fight against polio.

“Polio doesn’t discriminate, nor does it have any boundaries,” he said. “We all need to come together to eradicate it.”

Ferris made a stop in New Glasgow Thursday as part of the final leg of the 7,200-kilometer trip to raise money and awareness for polio. So far, he’s covered 6,000 kms and raised nearly $300,000 and expects to finish his trip in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, on Oct. 1.