Shot@Life

I’m just back from Africa where, between visits to rural villages and health centers, I had the chance to reunite with the Kenyan family that hosted me during a study abroad trip in 1987. The kids I met there – like me – are now adults with kids of their own. Hearing their stories and seeing their kids reminds me how important it is that every child, everywhere has access to life-saving vaccines.  

The youngest boy, Ethan, will turn two in February. He was born on the very day that, with support from the GAVI Alliance, Kenya introduced a new pneumonia vaccine into their immunization program. Over lunch in Nairobi recently, the boys’ mom remarked that Ethan’s brother, Enrique, had two bouts of pneumonia in his first 2 years, yet Ethan has had none.  

For most of us in the United States, few parents worry that pneumonia could take the life of their baby. Our children are generally well-nourished, completely vaccinated, and have access to hospitals and treatments. I think that’s why Americans are always so surprised when I tell them that pneumonia kills more children than any other illness. They also react with frustration when I point out that, for just a few dollars, these children’s lives can be saved and their parents spared the trauma of losing a child.

Will you join me and make a $20 donation to protect a child in a developing country against deadly but preventable diseases like pneumonia?

Links:

• Shot@Life Campaign

My name is Dennis Ogbe and this past summer I represented the USA at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. I am also a polio survivor.

I contracted polio at the age of three when I was taken to a health clinic to be treated for malaria in Nigeria. Today, polio still exists in Nigeria and is still killing and disabling children. 

Life is especially challenging in developing countries for a person who has been disabled by polio. Opportunities for physical therapy, regular doctor visits, access to proper medical equipment and handicapped parking can be irregular and often don’t exist.

It was tough being the only kid on the playground in a wheelchair. For years I watched the other kids; when I tried to participate they moved to higher ground to get away from me.  Thanks to the encouragement of my father, I was able to go to school and get an education. After a lot of practice I eventually regained full mobility in my right leg. 

No child in this world should have to live with those life experiences when the disease that infected them is preventable with a vaccine.

My plea to you, as a polio survivor, is that you donate $50 to Shot@Life today. 

One $50 dollar donation will vaccinate 50 children and prevent the crippling and potentially fatal effects of polio. Help Shot@Life reach the goal of vaccinating 40,000 children against polio by Halloween.

You and I have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change history and finally eradicate polio from our planet. We must ensure success because every child, no matter where in the world they are, should have an equal shot at a healthy life.

To this very day, my own mother gets tears in her eyes when she describes the moment she found out that I was paralyzed. You can ensure 50 mothers and fathers never have to share that same fate.

Your $50 donation to Shot@Life will make a huge difference in the lives of children and mothers around the world.  Together, we can change the course of history.

Links:

• Shot@Life
• Dennis Ogbe on CNN