David Talbot is a child of the baby boom after WWII.

Born in 1952, David started well but in the spring of 1955, when he was 2.5 years old, he contracted polio, just 2 weeks after the announcement that an vaccination had had been discovered.

David went through several years of rehab and started on his journey to overcome the physical restrictions that were the result with his bout with polio.

As the challenge was physical, that is where David put his focus.

High School football, mountain climbing and bicycling in Europe (even running with the bulls in Pamplona) were his signs that despite his mobility challenge, he had whipped polio.

Or so David thought. After a number of active careers from Dental Hygiene, teaching and professional photographer, He is now back in the struggle against polio.

This time it is the return of the symptoms, not the disease itself. Joint, bone and muscle pain and a continued loss of strength in his polio affected left leg have left him back on crutches after some 45 years of freedom from mobility equipment.

In 2005 David was in Uganda, East Africa with his wife Candice where they witnessed an incredible need for mobility devices. The impact of seeing the need first hand was the seed that grew into Crutches 4 Africa. Since the inception, 223,000 mobility devices have been given away free to people in need in 16 countries in Africa and 16 countries in other parts of the developing world.

David is a Paul Harris fellow and is a member of Mountain Foothills Rotary club in Evergreen Colorado, and was the 2011 recipient of the International Service Award for a Polio Free World.

IMPORTANT!

August 31 is the deadline for ALL members to repeat the YouthProtection Program. Go to Rotary 5450 website and take the tutorial. This is for your protection, not just the youth and Rotary. This is happening in our communities and is hard to detect. We are part of the first line. Parents are the last to know.  Send a note to Chris as soon as you have taken the Tutorial.