What's Your IQ=Impact Quotient? Let's talk about Your Impact Quotient. with Nancy Barbee
This podcast will introduce interesting topics in a series format. Hear all about polio, Rotary projects, entrepreneurs, travelers, and new technology and how they impact your life and world.
What's Your IQ=Impact Quotient? Let's talk about Your Impact Quotient. with Nancy Barbee
John Nanni
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Polio Survivor John Nanni talks about polio and advocacy.
Good afternoon, everyone. This is What's Your IQ with Nancy Barbie. Let's talk about our impact quotient. And I'm so happy today to have as my guest, a good friend, but uh polio survivor and chair, polio plus chair in District 7630, but also serving on the International Polio Plus Committee for Rotary International. So, John. I'm happy to have John Nanny as my guest today. John, so glad to have you here.
SPEAKER_00Nancy, thank you for inviting me. It's an honor to be here with you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it it it's it's been a long time coming. I'm finally back in the on the trail a bit, so I'm glad to have you as my as my first guest after a period of um absence. So thanks for being here today. Let's talk a little bit about um, of course, I want to talk about polio, and I know you do too. Let's talk about before we get started in going into the weeds of any kind, um, tell us a little bit about your polio story and and and how you contracted it and when and uh how it was growing up with with polio. So give us some background information.
SPEAKER_00Well, it was uh six months before the SOC vaccine was widely tested. Um September of 1953 when I came down with polio. I was uh 10 months old. I was paralyzed from my neck down for a period of six months. Um my great aunt was a nun who spent most of her career uh as a nun working in hospitals, and she could read a hospital chart, and she saw that because I was in a polio ward that was overcrowded to begin with, um, she saw that I wasn't getting the care I needed. And she knew of Sister Kenny uh physical therapy program. Sister Kenny's a nurse from Australia that developed a physical therapy program for paralyzed polio patients so that they're you know uh the physical therapy would uh prohibit um the muscles from dying off from uh you know being inactive. So my mom actually took me out of the hospital. Um my grandmother took care of my older brother, and uh she would take my braces off uh the beginning of an hour, uh, exercise all my muscles. Uh she I was too young to remember, but she said that uh I would scream in pain from you know stretching the muscles. Um an hour later, after doing the physical therapy, uh she would put my braces back on. She would rest for an hour and then begin all over again and do that uh probably about 20 hours a day um for for six-month period. Uh and uh a year later I walked. Um I grew up um where most people never knew I had had polio. I was blessed because of what my mom did. Um you know, uh I did not have any legs or arms that were smaller than the other, and a lot a lot of polio victims, polio patients, uh, you know, even even with polio not as severe as I had it, because they, you know, didn't get the physical therapy or the treatment, uh had shortened legs, smaller legs, smaller arms, you know, paralyzed, uh, a lot of muscles that had atrophy. I did not have any of that. And I was very blessed. I grew up playing sports. Um, you know, well uh in high school I played baseball, basketball, and football. Uh however, my coaches didn't know I'd had polio. My parents didn't think that, you know, uh it would affect my ability to compete. Uh I was I was very slow and clumsy. And my coaches often yelled at me, called me lazy. Um, it was a very frustrating time in my life, but not as frustrating as uh those who had you know multiple uh surgeries and things like that. I even know of somebody that had a um one of their good legs shortened five inches to match their uh polio legs so they wouldn't walk with a significant limp. So, you know, polio uh pa victims uh really went through a lot of pain and suffering. And uh because of my mom, I I was spared a lot of that. Uh then when I turned 40, I started having renewed weakness and pain and extreme fatigue. Um and I really didn't know what it was and why, you know. I mean, I I basically became a couch potato. And because I'd worked 10, 12 hours a day, I was in the restaurant business, and then I sold computer systems to the re two restaurants. Um and so I was very physically active and I'd come home and I'd just crash. Um took uh two years and 10 different doctors and I was fine, you know, I was fibro I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, because those um issues uh have this basically the same uh symptoms as postpolio syndrome. The problem with it is that their treatment is completely opposite. Uh polio uh polio um syndrome, uh you know, post polio syndrome has, you know, you want to avoid stress uh exercises and things like that. Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome is very heavy exercise. So I finally was uh referred to a uh neurologist and again, very lucky, very blessed. He had just finished two years of studying at uh NIH uh on postpole syndrome. What happened pulled me into his office and said, uh, without ever examining me, just looking at my medical history, um, said, Well, I have to tell you, you don't have fibromyalgia, you don't have chronic fatigue syndrome. I don't know you well enough to know if you're crazy or not. But uh what you have is postpolio syndrome. You know, and that was the first time I ever heard of the uh postpolio syndrome. I I said, Oh my god, polio's come back. He said, No, no, no, the virus doesn't come back. Basically, what happens is the muscles that took over for the damaged polio muscles, they start dying off early from overuse. You have to change your philosophy of life from uh use it or lose it to conserve to preserve. And uh then I was blessed to uh meet up with a uh a specialist, probably the world-round uh most knowledgeable on post-polio syndrome, Dr. Richard Bruno. He had a clinic up in North Jersey where he had uh doctors and he was a psychologist uh once with sessions with him. Uh he had physical therapists, occupational therapists. I would go there. I went for six months um once a week, about an hour and a half drive from where I was living in New Jersey. Uh and he basically saved my life, changed my life, uh uh taught me what I needed to do or not do to protect the muscles that I do have left.
SPEAKER_02And what what did he tell you not to do?
SPEAKER_00Uh resistance type of uh exercise or activities. Um for instance, no weight training and no weight training, no treadmill, uh, even even in the pool. If you got in the pool and you walk through the water, water adds 10 times the amount of resistance than walking on land. So what I do is I get up, I get up to my neck in water, and I literally run in place where my arms are going, my legs are going. I run for 45 minutes three times a week in a pool. So my foot, my feet are only tapping the bottom of the pool, so I'm not getting any damage to my legs. I'm getting the movement of most muscles in my body, and I'm getting the cardio exercise. And that, you know, those kinds of things. Uh the occupational therapists taught me I was actually uh um pulling muscles in my stomach because my stomach muscles were weak very weak, and I'd bend over to pick something up and I'd pull a muscle. Okay, so uh they taught me that I needed to get um, you know, well, I I have one right here. Hey, I don't know if it'll show up very well.
SPEAKER_02The grabber things, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's it's a grabber. You know, and uh I have I have 10 of these around the house, one in my car. Um, and it really has helped me uh those kinds of things help me avoid further damage and further pain and uh that kind of thing. I have a uh a lounge chair that uh for in the TV room that uh actually stands me up. Um have a chair lift that goes from our finished basement to our main floor. Um I have a wheelchair in my house, and then uh I can stay, I still do about 200 steps a day. Uh the main reason for that is to um protect my ability to transfer from chair to toilet to and chair to bed. Uh because I was I don't have upper body strength, I don't have if I lost the ability to transfer, I don't have the strength to pull myself up and transfer. So the goal is to protect that ability. So uh, you know, and and I have a ramp van that the ramp comes out the side of the car. I ride right into with my wheelchair and transfer to my driver's seat. Uh I have a hundred thousand miles on a car in a three just under three years. Uh very very little I can't do. I just have to find a different way of doing it. And and that's that's the main thing with uh polio survivors. And um, you know, I've I've been on a number of boards of uh the post-polio syndrome support groups, um polio survivor support groups they're all over the world, and I've given talks to uh them even on Zoom and things like that. So uh and and a lot of a lot of polio survivors, they really don't know what they need to do or not do. Uh even things like anesthesia. Um most well if if you had the polio virus in your system, it affected uh your nerves and it affected especially your your bulb or part of your brain, which affects breathing. So anybody who has is gonna have an operation or even a dentist with Novocaine, they need to know uh that you had polio because it uh has a potential problem, especially with anesthesia, of uh waking up. With the dentist, I'd go to a dentist, you know, if he was gonna drill my tooth, he'd give shoot me up with Novocaine, come back in a normal time, and um, you know, start drilling and I'd hit the ceiling. And so the net normal thing for him to do is give me more Novocaine. I didn't need more Novocaine, I needed more time for the Novocaine of the first shot to work. I'd leave the office with my my jaw hanging down on the floor because I had too much novacaine. So things like that, that uh, you know, which is why, you know, every child we save from having polio, we save them from a lifetime of issues with post with a postpolio issues.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I don't think people understand that too, or even though we say it, um, you know, we say that it's a hundred percent preventable and a hundred percent uncure not curable, but people don't understand the the long-term effects. But you were very fortunate, I think, to find doctors uh when when you were uh trying to figure out what was happening to you in a at a later stage in life. Because I I talked to my doctor um and I asked her, and she's a young little thing, and I said, Did they mention polio in medical school? She said, There's a paragraph on it. And so it's not really so nobody really um talks about it a whole lot, I guess, because it's not hasn't been here for a while.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's there's actually been a uh survey done um for nurses and uh doc doctor, you know, um pre-med uh uh students, they get about an average of eight minutes uh of of training on polio. And most of that is the history of polio, and maybe a little bit about the vaccines, but nothing about you know how to treat somebody who was a uh polio survivor.
SPEAKER_02And never even seen a case of polio, and that's difficult, I'm sure. Uh I think probably going on and to uh to India or Pakistan, they would get better training just to go there and look and see what we see, you know, on a regular basis when we're there.
SPEAKER_00Most of the time, if I have to have physical therapy, I basically have to train that physical therapist on what postpolio syndrome is and what I need to do. I had my hip replaced and I was blessed to have, you know, therapy physical therapists and occupational therapists in the rehab center uh completely changed their whole physical therapy uh program for me so that it would, you know, adapt to what was best for me. And um I I had one physical therapist once this I started my normal routine figuring she knew nothing about postpolio syndrome. She goes, she stopped me right there. She says, My mother is a polio survivor. I know postpolio syndrome. And so you know, and like you said, I I really have been fortunate. I've been very blessed. You know, many, many polio survivors, you know, especially in developing countries, have no chance of you know giving the care that I got.
SPEAKER_02Right. And it's it's amazing too. I don't know if it this was your experience or not, but um, when I go to different rotary clubs or different places and talk about polio, inevitably someone will come up to me and say, either they had polio or their father had polio or their mother or their uncle or their aunt, and no one knew it. No one knew, especially if it were if it were them that had polio. I mean, I've been to several rotary clubs that pick someone would come up and I say, Well, does your rotary club know this? No, I've never told anyone. Have you found that experience?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I I have uh you've seen my sign on the back of my wheelchair. It says 71 years later, this is what polio looks like when a child's not vaccinated. And I constantly have people coming up to me. Uh, Christine and I were out uh uh actually Tuesday uh having lunch celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. And I had about uh half the people in the restaurant uh, you know, when they came by, stopped and said, Thank you for your sign. Yeah, a few uh actually opening day at Yankee Stadium this year. I had a uh person uh from a woman, you know, about my age, come from the concession stand. She came over and she had tears in her eyes and said, Can can I take a picture of the sign on the back of your wheelchair? I said, Yeah, but what's the problem? She was, my daughter-in-law refuses to vaccinate my grandchildren. And I want to show her this picture.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that makes a statement.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, uh inevitably I often have people come up to me and say, I I I didn't realize polio was still around, you know, and uh, you know, or and like you said, I I you know I had polio or my you know grandfather had polio or my parents had polio. Um, you know, uh it's you know back in the 50s, uh boy, a lot of people had polio.
SPEAKER_02And they they did, and John actually, I didn't know that polio, I mean I took the sugar cube uh when I was a kid, and so I was a lucky one that I did get the vaccine before it there was a big outbreak where I'm from, and so uh I was protected, or so I was very lucky along with a lot of other people in my town. But but um uh it's amazing. Um I didn't know anything about polio really until I got involved in rotary and and um heard people talking, people like you talking about, yes, is still in the world. And I had no idea. I didn't I didn't know uh I didn't know it either, and didn't pay much attention to it, even though my children were vaccinated, you know, they were coming along, but I didn't have a clue either.
SPEAKER_00Well, it wasn't until actually I joined Rotary that uh I ever I went through you know my childhood and school and college never knowing somebody else who had had polio. Right. And it wasn't until uh, well, I was in central New Jersey and somebody knew I'd had polio, and they were a member of Rotary Club near Trenton, New Jersey, and asked me to give a talk on my experience as a uh you know polio survivor. I sort of I knew a little bit about what Rotary did with polio, but I didn't know all the other things that Rotary did. I was asked to come back and then I was asked to join, and you know, uh probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.
SPEAKER_02Oh, one of the best decisions for us. I know that, that's for sure. It's been it's been a blessing both ways, and uh it's certainly been a blessing to those that know you and and and hear your testimony, but let's let's switch uh switch um to another topic just in the same area. But let's let's talk about there is a rotary uh international committee called the International Polio Plus Committee that I know you're a part of that. What are the responsibilities of that committee? And and and uh and of course, you know, I want you to tell us a little bit about what you just did in in uh in Washington.
SPEAKER_00I'm actually on the uh Rotary's Polio Plus Advocacy Task Force.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that one, okay.
SPEAKER_00And uh what we do um is that we advocate uh down in Washington, DC, and uh wherever you know any of us are in the company of a congressional leader to advocate that uh the United States government continue to be one of our major partners in supporting, financially supporting the efforts to eradicate polio. Um the U.S. government is the second largest donor to the polio eradication effort, uh the Gates Foundation being number one, uh the U.S. government being number two, and Rotary and Rotarians being number three. And um traditionally, um, you know, when we go down once or twice a year to uh Washington, D.C. Um, we have you know past Rotary International Presidents on it. We have uh a number of very high uh esteemed Rotarians, and then they have me.
SPEAKER_02Uh you're one of those, too.
SPEAKER_00But uh, you know, uh we go down and uh we uh first meet with uh all of the global polio eradication initiative uh partners. Have a big meeting for about a three hour meeting. Uh, Gates Foundation's there, uh uh UNICEF uh in the in the past, um uh World Health Organization and WHO uh and And uh the uh you know the uh Gavi uh uh were in the meeting. This past uh um March, I think it's yes, it was in the early March, uh you know, WHO and uh World uh CDC by the way CDC was not there because of what's happening with the administration. So uh we would typically talk about what's going on throughout the world, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan efforts made by all uh even uh USAID, which uh actually a good amount of money in the past that the US government uh actually funds has been programmed through USAID and also CDC. So uh all that money has gone away now. So uh and and so we meet when we talk about the strategies of that, and then for two days we go to Capitol Hill and uh meet with senators and House of U.S. House of Representatives and their staffs and talk about, you know, give them the information of where we stand with uh the eradication efforts and the importance of continuing the support. Uh with the new administration, um, you know, we've we've taken a stance that Rotary is not political and not religious, and we're we're not gonna get involved in that aspect. We're gonna continue to advocate for the U.S. government to continue, no matter how they finally decide, you know, hopefully they decide that polio is one of the world health issues, they will reinstate. Uh, we don't care how they do it, as long as they do it. Uh, we're assuming that um most likely it will come under the um uh State Department. Okay, and the Secretary of State is now uh uh Rubio. And uh Rubio has been a longtime supporter of the polio eradication effort. Uh he was honored by Rotary as a polio uh uh warrior and hero. And uh something I didn't know about until a few months ago, his grandfather is a polio survivor.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I don't know that either.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so hopefully um once when the chips all fall and in into place of what the administration is going to do after it's dismantled the USAID and pretty much uh World Health Organization has has you know left the World Health Organization and you know really has decimated CDC at this point, um, how they're going to rebuild that and uh hopefully polio plus and polio eradication GPEI is part of that. And uh last Tuesday uh I was uh honored to be the representative chosen to give testimony to the uh subcommittee on appropriations, and they gave me a whole three minutes. Uh I was the first one to give testimony out of 20 different organizations, and uh I guess because I'm in a wheelchair and you know they gave me a little bit of pity and let me go over the three minutes, whereas everyone else they right at the three minutes, they they you know said, Well, please wrap up, you know. But um, you know, I I had a lot of information to give out. Uh I felt rushed. I hope I gave a good presentation. Uh after my presentation, the vice chair of the committee, who is a Republican, came down from the panel um and came over, shook my hand, and said, Great presentation, well received. And oh, by the way, I'm a Rotarian.
SPEAKER_02How about that? There you go.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, so you know, um, those kinds of things that uh we need all Rotarians, especially in their own municipalities and their you know states, when they're in the presence of especially uh US uh congressional leaders and their staffs uh to promote that effort because um, you know, we are so darn close. Yeah, you know, well, I mean in my polio talks, which I've given about 500 of them uh you know uh throughout the world uh with with um with the pandemic, uh Zoom really flourished. And I was able I was able to travel the globe three times around the globe on Zoom miles. So I was able to give a during a two-year period about 250 uh polio talks. And in my latest polio talks, I I uh say, well, there's a sports metaphor that I'm gonna give you. Uh, you know, um, if you take your eye off the ball, like Aaron Judge did in the World Series in Game Five, uh, you drop the ball. Yeah. And that's basically what happened in Afghanistan and uh and um Pakistan last year, uh, is they took their eye off the ball. And we went from 12 cases in uh 2023 to 99 cases in 2024. And um, you know, uh in Afghanistan, the uh Taliban, for some reason, who had been, you know, up until then very supportive, giving, you know, given security for national immunization days and things like that, all of a sudden they stopped door-to-door uh vaccinations. In Pakistan, they have new government that this is all we're down to six cases. You know, they they really uh took the uh well, like I said, took their eye off the ball and uh you know gave less uh emphasis on, you know, especially local um areas uh really suffered. Uh they even had vaccines go bad because they didn't storm properly, they didn't follow the the protocol. Uh so you know now I I believe Pakistan is back on track. Uh Afghanistan, they did something uh, you know, pretty creative. And Rotary is very creative when they see an obstacle. They basically, you know, because they can't do door-to-door vaccinations, they set up um vaccination stations uh around five or six houses, okay, and have the women uh uh man those stations and the and those families come out to be vaccinated. Okay. So uh, you know, I think we're back on the track. Uh what's a what's very encouraging is not only the fact that there's only been seven cases of wild polio so far this year, we haven't really hit you know the warmer temperatures yet of where polio flourishes. But um, you know, the um last uh report showed not just no cases of wild polio in Afghanistan or Pakistan, uh there they showed no invo positive environmental samples of the polio virus, which is probably the biggest key. Um India, that's how India stopped polio is by eliminating the positive environmental samples. They get a sample and and pinpoint where it was and then you know go to that area and do mass vaccinations. Uh, I believe that that's what's happened in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past three or four months. And um this past uh report showed no positive environmental samples. Where they were uh Pakistan was showing like 20 or 30 positive environmental samples just a month ago. So, you know, to me that's incredible uh good information. Good, goods.
SPEAKER_02And I know in in Pakistan we've been told too that um the Taliban there will not allow us to go door to door. So we have to go, they they're going moss to moss. But I think eventually, because of this, this um um this the cases not being so so many, maybe they'll lighten up on that some. And maybe they'll see, and and there there it takes a good probably six to eight months for the new government to sort of get back in the the screen of things. And and I know that um our our Polio Plus committee has been over there several times to talk to them about you know half ways and making sure that everybody's vaccinated. And you know, you you well know that until every child is vaccinated and and is completely eradicated, no child is safe, doesn't matter where you are in the world.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that and that's the point that we were making when we were talking to the congressional leaders and their staff, and and how we pivoted from emphasizing how we needed to stop um polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We changed we pivoted and changed our message on how eradicating polio will protect Americans. Okay, and Gay always gave the example of in 2022 where you had the one case of uh variant polio in Rockland County, New York. And not only was it the one case, but you know, positive environmental samples in five counties around there, including New York City and Long Island, right? Okay, which which means that there were other cases, just that they weren't paralytic polio. And you know, that shows how you know polio can spread like wildfire if we don't eradicate polio.
SPEAKER_02Well, and it's the truth, and and we should know that with uh COVID. COVID should have taught us that, and now we've got the measles outbreak, then several children have died from that. So that should open people's eyes to the fact that if you don't vaccinate, look what can happen. And not not just for public, but anything. You need to vaccinate and you need to make sure that we protect our children because they are our future. And if we don't protect them, we're the only ones who can. If we don't, it's gonna be maybe a terrible backlash.
SPEAKER_00We have to be careful not to listen to some anti-vaxxers and and uh go on the internet and get half-truths and and start taking, you know, uh mega doses of vitamin A where it's gonna destroy your liver, which they're seeing cases of that now. Or take cod liver oil, okay, or or ask your doctor for uh antibiotics. I mean, come on, antibiotics, polio is a virus. Antibiotics don't you don't prescribe antibiotics for a virus. That's right. That's right. So, you know, you know, we're getting from lead administration people really bad information.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is very true. And and um, you know, it it's really a sad state of affairs when we we I mean, there's so much on the internet now, and you see anybody can put anything on the internet. And I know when I was in in school, you know, we were using the internet for research and things of that nature, but you know, we always taught them look to see your source. Where is it coming from? Is it a reputable source? And if it's not, then maybe you don't need to believe everything you read. So, and we need to teach that to adults now, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I and I have two sayings I like to repeat often. Uh, vaccines cause adults. Okay, and science doesn't care what your opinion is.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Those are those are perfect. Those are perfect. And to me, and I've said this, and I got this from somebody else, and I it I got it from actually from Brenda Cressy, and it really did make a difference to me when she said it was don't think of it as a case, think of it as a child, somebody's child, somebody's family that is affected. So that's a personal way to look at it and think about it if it was your child.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02John, thank you. Thank you so much for for all this information. And just one last question. What do you think the impact will be when we finally do eradicate polio? What do you think of the impact will be around the world?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I hope there's big celebrations similar similar to when uh um Eisenhower announced that the uh SALK vaccine is is safe and is going to be distributed. There are you know huge celebrations. Absolutely. Um, you know, I I told uh our district governor um designate that uh I hope uh she fires me. And she looked at me and she goes, What? I said, Well, if we eradicate polio, there won't be a need for my job. But I I'm also, you know, even with uh Rotary International Leadership, I am promoting because I hear uh, you know, a lot of people talking about, well, what's next? You know, my answer first is, well, it's too soon to talk about that until we eradicate polio, until we have the last case of polio, and then three more years and be certified polio free. But um, you know, my feeling is is that we've spent 40 years building this infrastructure and this uh partnership on eradicating polio, that we need to continue this partnership and the infrastructure, change polio plus to health plus so that we you know continue to do things like stopping Ebola from becoming a uh a pandemic because we had polio workers out there and identified Ebola and stopped it from becoming a pandemic. Okay, seeing that vitamin A deficiencies in a particular area is is really bad. So that when we give polio vaccines, give give the vitamin A supplements, those kinds of things that I think you know um, you know, the infrastructure and the uh whole uh partnerships that we have created really will be positive if we continue it on a health plus basis.
SPEAKER_02But you know how Rotarians are, John. We won't stop until um until we can solve problems that that the world can't solve. So we will always be there. But I agree with you. I agree with you. We'll that we'll always keep doing working and and helping those that are in need and and those that that uh are less fortunate. So John, this has been a great interview. Thank you so much for being with me today.
SPEAKER_00And thank you for inviting me, and thank you for all that you do for uh not just uh ending polio, but also for Rotary.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you as well. And it's been a great conversation, and I look forward to seeing you soon. And uh we'll keep fighting the fight.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much. This has been Watch Your IQ with Nancy Barbie and and a special guest, John Nanny. See you guys next time. Bye.
SPEAKER_01And um, this young man, a teenage, you know, walks through all of us to the front of the room, and it looked like he was holding a backpack. And as he walked by us, we realized that it was his grandfather who had no legs, and he was carrying him on his back, and he got to the front of the room, and he gently put his grandfather on a regular chair, and then the wheelchair was brought over, and then he picked up his grandfather with some help, and they put him on the wheelchair. Nancy, I gotta tell you, it was so amazing to watch, and um so a couple of things happened. First of all, the man uh was an old older man, and he had a handkerchief in his hand, and he put his hand up in the air and he started waving the handkerchief, and then he started twirling around in the wheelchair. Um, obviously, he had been in a wheelchair before, but now this was his wheelchair. We had given him that day the gift of mobility, and he had this big smile on his face, tears were coming down his eyes, tears were coming down our eyes, and we were laughing. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry, it was just amazing, it was an amazing, amazing moment, but at the same time, I noticed the grandson standing up against the wall in the back, and he was crying, and I thought, you know what? We did not just change this man's life, we changed that grandson's life, we changed all the lives of the family of this man. So when we change lives, don't think of the one individual, we have to think of all of those people around that one individual, and that's when I really got it. I thought, my goodness, what did we just do for this man? A $75 wheelchair changed all these lives.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that is powerful. That is powerful. What a great way to put that, that you just changed a whole family and a whole community.
SPEAKER_01A whole community, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, that what a what how powerful can it be? And that is the power of our rotary foundation. If just every Rotarian and every rotoractor and every interactor could realize what a small, small, small donation, what a small contribution that you have to make to impact a whole community, a whole state, a whole country, a whole world. So together, we are powerful people. Thank you so much, Brenda, for sharing your impact and what it means to you, what the Rotary Foundation means to you and your experiences. Um I can't say enough. Rotary the Rotary Foundation is my heart and soul. Okay, so I can't say enough about the Rotary Foundation and about polio. Of course, I'm I'm a polio champion as you are too. And um, and everything, everything to do with with helping to eradicate that that disease. Thank you so much for being with me today and and for sharing your experiences and and for sharing your passion.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Nancy. I really appreciated being here. And I hope all the Rotarians and rotoractors and interactors have those who have a chance to listen today, understand that uh, as I mentioned earlier, giving to the Rotary Foundation is a journey of giving. And you you are asked to support it, but support it at the level that is comfortable to you. You know, we will we don't want to uh overburden you. We know that life is tough, and but this is our foundation, and I hope some of the stories that we share today really uh ring true to you and uh will become part of your thinking and of your heart.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much again, Brenda. And uh this has been Watch Your IQ. Let's talk about your impact question with Nancy Barbie and and uh thank you again, Brenda.