Polio survivor inspires support for ending the disease

Ten days before his 21st birthday, David Goldstone lay in a hospital bed near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, his arms and legs paralyzed by polio, his body gripped by fever and in terrible pain. His hospital admission form read, “Life expectancy: 24 hours.”

Six days later, Goldstone emerged from a semi-coma and was moved out of isolation into a children’s ward; adult polio victims were and still are relatively rare. “You will probably never walk again,” the hospital’s chief medical officer told him.

“I will,” Goldstone replied.

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