Polio survivor speaks at Rotary International Conference

Anne Lee Hussey hopes to rid the world of polio by 2018

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — A polio survivor visited La Crosse Friday stressing the importance of vaccines.

Ann Lee Hussey from Maine was in the area for the Rotary International Conference.

She took time to share her story at Gundersen Health System. Hussey was diagnosed when she was a toddler in 1955, a few months after the polio vaccine was being distributed. She’s since recovered.

Part of her mission with Rotary International is to rid the world of polio by 2018.

“If we stopped today, the polio vaccine would come back with a vengeance, and it would cost us far more money in the long run, just to maintain it, than all the billions of dollars that we’ve already spent to get where we are today. So it doesn’t seem logical that anyone would want to stop,” said Hussey.

She says the areas with the most polio cases are in the parts of Africa and the Middle East where there are major conflicts.