29/10/2026
CRoW's new date: 8th November
BERIS THOMAE, 82, IS A DANCING QUEEN AND POLIO SURVIVOR
*** PLEASE NOTE THAT THE WALK HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO SUNDAY 8th NOVEMBER DUE TO THE WEATHER ***
World Polio Day is October 24
by KEVIN CORCORAN
Her love of dancing was forged as she fought polio as an infant – a disease which ravaged large sections of the population around the world.
Beris’s parents believed in the wisdom of a self-trained Australin Bush Nurse, Sister Elizabeth Kenny (1880–1952), who revolutionized the treatment of poliomyelitis (polio).
Sister Kenny developed a novel and controversial approach to treating polio. She went against immobilisation recommendations of the time and used muscle movement.
Her principles of muscle rehabilitation became the foundation of physiotherapy to treat polio.
Her method, promoted internationally while working in Australia, Europe and the United States, differed from the conventional one of placing affected limbs in plaster casts. Instead, she applied hot compresses, followed by passive movement of the affected areas.
Eventually an initially hostile medical community acknowledged that the treatment helped thousands of children all over the world.
“The doctors had wanted to cut the tendons in my feet to straighten them,” Beris said.
“My parents were against that and would take me to Brisbane for treatment with Sister Kenny.”
Beris contracted polio as an infant in Toowoomba and spent at least three years in callipers unable to walk or run around.
“When I was five my mother took me to tap dancing and swimming lessons to strengthen my legs.
By the time she was a teenager she was doing lots of dancing and would have loved to make dancing a career.
In a way she did.
With her husband John, the pair became award-winning dancers and dance teachers attending Rock N Roll, Jive and country partner competitions across Australia and New Zealand.
When they retired they travelled from show to show across the country in a caravan, eventually settling in Hervey Bay.
Now in her 80s Beris has joined an Australian research group studying Polio Syndrome, the long-term effects of polio.
“There are long-term effects,” she said.
“As I get older there is fatigue, cold intolerance, pains in my legs and I’m losing the strength in my legs.
“But I’m not going to let that stop me.”
While she would love to contact other polio survivors on the Fraser Coast, she hopes to do her bit to help raise funds for Rotary International to continue its eradication program against the disease.
Rotary, helped by the Gates Foundation, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate the disease from the world.
There are now only small pockets of the world, such as Afghanistan where the disease still exists.
To help the eradication effort, Beris would like to participate in the Cycle Run or Walk (CRoW) event being organised by the combined Rotary Clubs of Hervey Bay and Maryborough to celebrate Worl Polio Day in October.
“I would love to participate,” she said.
“I could make three or four hundred metres, who knows.”
The events is being held at the Churchill Mine Road Trailhead or the Takura Trailhead of the Mary 2 Bay Rail Trail from 7am to 9am on Sunday, October 25.
Participants can complete the 7.2km course from Takura to Churchill Mine Road or pick the distance they would like to go and then turn around and head back to their starting point.
You can collect sponsorship to participate or just make a donation to eradicating polio. Water stations will be at both starts, as well as the midway point and toilet facilities will be available.
There is minimum entry of $10 person or $20 for a family to participate.
The Churchill Mine Road Trailhead is 9kms from Dundathu and 11Kms from Torbanlea on the Churchill Mine Rd, beside the Susan River rail bridge, which is signposted.
The Takura Trailhead is at the corner of Leos Road and the Torbanlea-Pialba Road, Walligan.
Registrations and sponsorship forms are available via [email protected] or 0401 307 110.
