SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER, JEFF ZUCKER and
MAUREEN McGOVERN Receive
2004 "Year of Polio Awareness" David Bodian Memorial Awards
"Every child vaccinated. Every polio survivor -- and doctor -- educated."
SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER, JEFF ZUCKER and MAUREEN McGOVERN Receive 2004 "Year of Polio Awareness" David Bodian Memorial Awards
David Bodian is polio survivors’ first unsung hero. Bodian discovered that there are three polio viruses, and he uncovered the path the poliovirus followed—from intestines into blood and ultimately into brain and spinal cord neurons--discoveries that made polio vaccines possible. What isn't known is that Bodian spent nearly every evening during the early 1950s on the phone with Jonas Salk helping him develop the first polio vaccine.
Bodian's research also laid the foundation for our understanding of how poliovirus-damage sets the stage for PPS. He found that 96% of motor neurons were damaged by the poliovirus but that at least 60% had to be killed before muscles show any weakness. Bodian also found that that the poliovirus damaged the brain stem whether or not it damaged the spinal cord, explaining why "brain fatigue" is the most common PPS symptom.
Each year, the International Post-Polio Task Force presents "The David Bodian Memorial Award" to recognize polio survivors' other unsung heroes. Past recipients have been Senator Bill Bradley, Mia and Thaddeus Farrow, David Morse, Debra Refson, and Congressman Steven Rothman.
David Bodian Memorial Award winners for 2004, “The
Year of Polio Awareness,”
are:
SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER...
... for working to release the 2003 Social Security Ruling
for Post-Polio Sequelae in order to stop inappropriate SSDI denials, sponsoring
the US Senate resolution proclaiming 2004 as "The Year of Polio Awareness,”
and helping to create policies so that veterans who had polio can receive
health care and
disability benefits. (Specter2004.com)
JEFF ZUCKER...
...President of NBC Entertainment who received his Bodian
Award on "The TODAY Show" in recognition of NBC's efforts to
educate Americans about PPS, including the story on "American Dreams"
of Will Pryor’s surgery to enable him to discard his long-leg brace,
and NBC’s airing a PPS public service announcement
(postpolioinfo.com/postpolio).
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MAUREEN McGOVERN...
... singer and founder of the McGovern "Works of Heart Project for Music and Healing” for her special recording that includes an adaptation of her new song, "I'll Never Know," describing polio survivors slowing their Type-A lifestyles, and the "Two Breath Time Out," the breathing relaxation exercise from How to STOP Being Vampire Bait (maureenmcgovern.com/polio/polio.htm).
To these and all of polio survivors' unsung heroes, the International
Post-Polio Task Force gives our thanks.
International Post-Polio Task Force at the International Centre for Post-Polio Education and Research Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Englewood, New Jersey U.S.A. 07631 Phone: 201 - 894-3724 Toll Free: 1-877-POST-POLIO PostPolioInfo@aol.com