Today's column could be about 1.2 million people in 162 countries around the world -- Rotarians who in May of 1988 made a commitment to eradicate polio from the planet and they expect to meet their goal by 2005.

However, defeating polio won't be the end of the story because polio comes back to haunt twenty fiver percent of its victims within ten to forty years after they recover from their first attack.

So, to draw attention to this fact, today's column is primarily about Sheila Giesbrecht and her family who are battling Post-Polio Syndrome here in the Mid-Island region.

Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is caused by the death of individual nerve terminals in those motor units that have remained relatively healthy after the initial polio attack.

Symptoms include fatigue, slowly progressive muscle weakness, muscle and joint pain, and muscular atrophy. The severity of PPS depends upon how seriously the survivors were affected by the first polio attack.

Fortunately PPS is not fatal. Sadly there is no cure.

Three years ago, Sheila and Duane Giesbrecht and their three daughters were a normal, happy, successful, middle class family. Both Sheila and Duane had excellent jobs and life was good.

Well perhaps I should qualify that statement. Sheila had had polio as a baby and in 1988 she started to feel more and more fatigued at the end of each day.

For the next ten plus years she lived with increasing fatigue, weakness and pain and too many people trying to convince her it was all in her head.

Then, three years ago, her muscles became so weak she often fell down unexpectedly.

Soon she was unable to walk - she's now in a wheel chair -- and unable to work. She also began to suffer from depression, one of the side affects of PPS.

Finally, six months later, after a series of tests and a successful visit with doctors at UBC, she was diagnosed.

"It was like a big weight came off my shoulders," she says. "Finally I could say, 'OK. This is real. It's not in my head.'"

That discovery was a great relief. However, there are a number of insurance and other bureaucrats that are still back at the "It's in your head" stage.

With medical support, Sheila has developed a routine that works for her.

"I have 20 minutes of activity," she says, "followed by 20 minutes rest, 20 minutes standing, 20 minutes sitting and 20 minutes lying down. I can't sit for too long, stand for too long or lie down for too long," she continued, "so I don't get much sleep."

However, it takes more than a ton of pain and no sleep to get this woman down.

"I refuse to do a pity part," she smiled. "We all have challenges and, since I have the choice, I'd rather meet mine with a positive attitude." That's a Neighbourhood Hero talking.

By the way, Sheila and her family aren't the only Neighbourhood Heroes in this story.

Obviously, dealing with the affects of PPS puts a lot of emotional stress on a family but then, on top of all that, the Giesbrechts had to deal with the financial challenges that came as the family adjusted to living with just one income rather than two.

Fortunately, they were able to make the necessary adjustments with help from John Decker of Mid-Island Mortgage but before those adjustments could be made, yet another Neighbourhood Hero surfaced.

Phil Stiller from Seccus Computers heard about the family's challenges from Rotarian, Gill Campbell, and he dropped off a computer - free of charge - so that Sheila could communicate through the Internet with other PPS sufferers. Thanks you two.