Polio survivor on Liveline in December

With covid and the US Presidential inauguration dominating news at the moment, here’s a throwback to December, when one of our members were featured on RTE’s Live Line, speaking to Joe Duffy.

Patrick wanted to highlight the issue of the size of clothes, shoes & even petrol pumps, which seem to be gettig bigger. This leaves people who are shorter, or smaller or lighter struggling to find the clothes and shoes that would fit them.

The rising height of petrol pumps and intercoms also creates a barrier for people like Patrick, whose growth and size was impacted by childhood polio.

Patrick explained to Joe that he still uses a ventilator at night, recalling the iron lung of his childhood, while Joe noted that he thought of callipers when he remembered polio. They even discussed Little Willie.

Now living with Post Polio Syndrome, Patrick was in hospital for years, then went onto be a clockmaker. Now the covid numbers on the news every night reminds him of reporting on polio patients in the old Evening Herald newspaper, when families looked out for their child’s patient number to see were they ‘improving’ or ‘getting worse’.

Well done to Patrick for highlighting a number of polio related issues, including that of the lack of medical cards or other supports for people with polio.

Listen here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21883220