story by: GILL WEBSTER

All Rotarians are aware of the challenges facing people trying to vaccinate ​children and eradicate the scourge of polio.

The summer edition of Rotary Magazine told how medics at the front line, like Dr ​Abdur Rehman in Pakistan, risk their lives to eliminate a disease that has killed ​and maimed thousands of young people across the world for generations.

But poverty, access to clean water, improvements to sanitation, political unrest ​and cultural issues make, what should be a simple humanitarian exercise, often ​extremely difficult.

For Keith Tovey, a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Norwich, such stories always ​bring home to him his lucky escape and his determination to raise the profile of ​the End Polio Now campaign.

It was late July 1955 and Keith, an 11-year-old boy from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, ​was visiting his grandmother in Coventry. He recalled: “As was common on such ​visits, I went to Gosford Green swimming pool and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon. ​A day later, the pool was closed following an outbreak of polio with a dozen ​cases recorded on the day I was there.

“Later in August I went swimming in my home pool at Westcliffe and was ​subsequently taken ill with a sore throat and high temperature.”

Keith spent a few days in bed believing it to possibly be a summer cold and felt ​fine. As boys do, he decided to go for a cycle ride and within five minutes felt ill. ​He had a high fever with a temperature which had rocketed to 40C.

“I recovered but any exertion put me back in bed with a high temperature,” he ​added.

“This cycle of events continued for the next month until the doctor was ​convinced that I was showing signs of polio, and I was rushed to the isolation ​hospital in Westcliffe.

“That first night alone I remember well. I was in a room in what appeared to be a ​pavilion in the middle of a field. Doctors and nurses wearing masks came and ​prodded me with injections to all parts of my body and tested my reflexes on ​what must have been an hourly basis. There was little chance of sleep.

“As day broke, I watched the squirrels playing outside.

“Later that day, I was transferred to a ground floor room of the main block and, ​apart from the medical staff, I saw nobody. My parents looked in through a ​closed window.”

Keith remained in hospital for a further week undergoing injections and blood ​tests, before being allowed home. He started at his new secondary school three ​weeks late.

Keith was fortunate. He did not experience an ‘iron lung’ or callipers. The incident ​was forgotten.

A year later, Keith’s parents received a letter asking for children of his age to be ​put forward for a new vaccine to prevent polio. Two hundred children from two ​different countries were chosen to trial the drug. His parents immediately ​jumped at the opportunity not entirely believing their son had the disease.

Keith was subjected to more blood tests. However, before his second injection, ​results confirmed he was immune from polio because he had possibly ​contracted a mild form of the disease previously. He wasn’t given the second ​vaccine. Keith had had a lucky escape.

Life went on. Keith has led an illustrious career working and teaching about ​landslide hazards and coastal erosion in the UK and Hong Kong, having no ​further problems with his health apart from having the gum disease, trench ​mouth, and rheumatic fever, until he joined Rotary!

Indeed, at the age of 16 he walked 75 miles in 22.5 hours raising money for ​World Refugee Year. This was before sponsored walks and money was collected ​in buckets!

Nine years ago, Keith was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare disease affecting ​due to a protein deficiency which affects one person in 150,000. And following a ​bout of pneumonia, he had kidney failure which has resulted on being on dialysis ​ever since!

However, this didn’t curb his enthusiasm to halt the spread of polio. Keith never ​forgot his early experience and it was the End Polio Now campaign which ​persuaded him to join Rotary nearly a quarter of a century ago. He has ​supported it ever since.

Keith is always in the forefront of events to halt the spread of the disease and ​with the full backing of the Norwich Rotary Club, his project to plant 8,000 purple ​crocus corms on the mound at the entrance to the Norfolk and Norwich ​University Hospital is taking place this Autumn.

On October 24th, Rotarians from Norwich’s Rotary clubs will be on their hands ​and knees, planting crocuses. And in the Spring, a fantastic sight will greet ​visitors to the Hospital: Purple Crocuses spelling END POLIO NOW.

Keith is fearful that potential problems in Gaza could exacerbate the problem ​cause polio to once again spread worldwide. “But we must be hopeful. Having ​been at the forefront of the eradication 65 years ago, it is my ambition to see the ​disease eradicated in my lifetime,” he said.