![\"Celebrating](\"https:\/\/www.spinalcure.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1.png\")
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As we approach the end of 2023, I want to acknowledge as a community how far we have come in our quest for a cure.<\/p>\n
Most people reading this are deeply familiar with how devastating a spinal cord injury can be, only compounded by being told days, weeks or months later \u201cyou will never walk again\u201d.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, that may have been true. Entrenched dogma that once broken a spinal cord could not be fixed meant very little funding was invested into SCI research compared with other disease areas.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, a small handful of motivated and visionary people around the globe, like the SpinalCure founders Joanna Knott OAM, Professor Perry Bartlett AO and the recently passed away Stewart Yesner, decided to do something about this unacceptable status quo.\u00a0 At the time, Prof. Bartlett had discovered stem cells in the adult brain and how plastic it could be. Joanna and Stewart, two formidable individuals, one a PR specialist, the other a discerning lawyer, who through sheer bad luck became quadriplegics, brought the determination to change the perception that there was no hope.<\/p>\n
Over the decades, with strategic investment in medical research and dedicated scientists, we have come to a time when there are several areas in which experimental therapies are showing promise.<\/p>\n
Of all of these, neurostimulation is the world’s most promising. It is already returning feeling and function to paraplegic and quadriplegic volunteers in small studies overseas and has the potential to be developed and made widely available in the short term.<\/p>\n
With thanks to your support, SpinalCure has been able to progress neurostimulation research in Australia. In particular, we\u2019ve been able to:<\/p>\n
This year in particular: Project Spark secured a history-making $6m from a Federal Government MRFF fund SpinalCure lobbied to be established. We also:<\/p>\n
We also continued our support for A\/Professor Marc Ruitenberg<\/a> and his team at the University of Queensland who are leading the world in the understanding of and treatment of acute SCI.<\/p>\n And of course, with thanks to the generous support of Caroline Farrell, we have been able to establish the I. Peter Farrell SpinalCure Fellowship<\/a>, which provides $1.5m over five years for an outstanding early-mid career researcher. We hope to award this opportunity to a scientist working on an innovative idea to cure SCI in 2024.<\/p>\n These achievements wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the support of everyone in our community: our donors, fundraisers, ambassadors, volunteers, and partners, in particular, The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research Trust<\/a>, Chris Mackinnon and his team at Lloyd’s Australia, Kerr Neilson whose vision and generosity allowed us to establish neurostimulation in Australia, the Jockeys Associations and Senator Linda Reynolds<\/a> who helped us to raise much-needed funding and has continued her steadfast support for a cure.<\/p>\n We’ve also had the pleasure of working more closely with people in our community like Alex Richter<\/a> and Knox Grammar School<\/a>, Glen Noble and family, as well as Dean Martelozzo<\/a> for writing to their local politicians, Caroline Tuyau, (CA) for her and her brother’s help with recruitment campaigns and Andrew Kerec<\/a> who rode across Australia on a bike for months through the desert to raise funds for a cure for all people with SCI, including his father. And of course the dedication of the researchers such as Professors Simon Gandevia and Jane Butler and the team at NeuRA<\/a> who work tirelessly to bring us one step closer to finding a cure for SCI.<\/p>\n While 2023 was a year of immense progress for SpinalCure\u2019s mission, and while we believe the first approved treatment is only a few years away, there is still much more work to be done to achieve the ultimate goal of curing SCI. Progress of science can be frustratingly slow with the shortage of funding and the complex nature of SCI. Our promise to you is that we will keep working until we find that cure.<\/p>\n Next year will be SpinalCure\u2019s 30th anniversary.\u00a0 We are looking forward to commencing the next stage of our journey and thanks to global consultants, Oliver Wyman<\/a> and, in particular, Matthew Stewart, we have a robust strategic plan to guide us through the next five years.<\/p>\n This is the season we see most injuries so please go steady over the holidays.\u00a0 Wishing you a Merry Christmas from the SpinalCure team and we look forward to working with you in the new year to make even more progress.<\/p>\n Kathryn Borkovic – CEO, SpinalCure Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\nAs we approach the end of 2023, I want to acknowledge as a community how far we have come in our quest for a cure. Most people reading this are deeply familiar with how devastating a spinal cord injury can…\n<\/div>\n