One Staten Island family's quest to wipe out polio

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Advance photo/Jan Somma-HammelLori Karelas of Todt Hill and her son, Andreas, left for India on Friday to administer polio vaccinations.

STATEN ISLAND, NY - TODT HILL - One Staten Island woman will bring the world a bit closer to eradicating polio.

Representing the Staten Island Rotary Club, Lori Karelas of Todt Hill and her son, Andreas, left for India on Friday to administer vaccinations against the crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.

"This was just calling out to me," said Ms. Karelas, who was inspired by a slide show documenting a fellow Rotarian's "PolioPlus" tour through Africa. "I knew that this was something that I had to do."

Living the creed of "service above self," Ms. Karelas, a real-estate manager and former nurse, covered the $12,000 expense of flying herself and her 25-year-old son to New Delhi. Andreas, an alumnus of Staten Island Academy, resides in San Francisco.

In India until Wednesday, the Karelases and a group of volunteers will bring suitcases filled with children's clothing to an orphanage founded by Mother Teresa; they will travel high into the Himalayas, take a houseboat down the Ganges River, visit the beaches of Southern India and end their trip with two days at the Taj Mahal.

"I expect it to be a wonderful, life-changing experience," said Ms. Karelas, the week before she departed.

More than 10 million children will be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years if the world fails to capitalize on its $5 billion global investment in eradication, according to Rotary International, whose volunteer program, PolioPlus, is the most ambitious in the history of the service organization.

"We can ostensibly wipe it out," said Ms. Karelas. "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

The disease strikes children mainly under the age of five in countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. A child can be protected for life against the disease for as little as 60 cents.

Ms. Karelas will also bring nets to India to protect families against malaria. And as a woman, she can, for cultural reasons, have greater access to mothers and infants than her male counterparts.

Both of Ms. Karelas' two sons have spent time abroad on humanitarian missions. Andreas worked in a school and orphanage in Kenya; Gregory, 29, worked in Rwanda on behalf of children orphaned by AIDS.

"I'm definitely following my children's lead," said Ms. Karelas. "When I told Gregory about this trip, his response was: 'We've raised you well.' "

In addition to sending volunteers, the Rotary Foundation is attempting to raise $100 million over three years, with each dollar to be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To contribute or learn more, visit