Imagine your first kiss. It was’t on your dream date or on a picnic blanket under the stars. Most likely it was when you were brought into this world and wrapped in the arms of your Mother. I remember the birth of my first child like it was yesterday. My baby girl was 5 lbs. 7 oz. A tiny little premature thing. Out of all the details I remember of her birth the one that stands out the most was her wrapped in that all too famous white hospital blanket with the blue double stripes and me gazing into her eyes as I kissed her on the forehead, cheeks, and her tiny little fingers.
Now imagine that you live in Myanmar the 24th largest country in the world and you have just given birth to your first child, a boy. You hold him and give him his first kiss. Daily you give him kisses on his face, his hands, and toes all one by one…you also give him the polio virus. You don’t show any symptoms and he is unable to tell you what he is feeling. Some time passes and the fatigue you imagined was from pregnancy is not going away. Your baby boy is irritable, weak and colic. You don’t understand why and you don’t have the resources to investigate. Your baby boy is now paralyzed on one side of his body.
Lets change this scenario up a little shall we…
Imagine that you live in Myanmar the 24 largest country in the world and you have just given birth to your first child, a boy. You hold him and give him his first kiss…he’s beautiful. You can rest assured that he is healthy because you received the polio vaccination from the public hospital and your baby boy at the age of 4 years is getting his last dose of the vaccination. He is growing up to be a handsome, smart, little gentleman. Thanks to the polio vaccination, five million people who would have otherwise been paralyzed are able to walk and polio cases are down 99 percent. Never before has the world been this close to eradicating polio.
Join a Shot@Life through education, advocacy, and donating. Let’s change the scenario of children’s lives everywhere.
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