A Special Year (Christopher Reeve)

[antiquity]

(I'm not sure if this is recent or written last year. If this is old news let me know and I'll delete it).

A Special Year

This year is special for me, because I turn 50 on September 25th. On several occasions during the years following my accident, I announced that I hoped I would be on my feet by my 50th birthday. Unfortunately, it now seems unlikely that I will meet that deadline.

I&rsquom still optimistic that I will walk again, however, and sooner rather than later. And I don&rsquot believe my optimism is unfounded. Here&rsquos why: in the six years since my injury &hellipÂ*

&hellip the research budget of the National Institute of Health has grown from 12 billion in 1998 to just under 25 billion in 2002&hellipÂ*

&hellip more young post-docs are choosing the field of spinal cord injury research for their career than ever before&hellipÂ*

&hellip the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation has tripled its budget &hellipÂ*
&hellip we&rsquove dramatically increased funding to the laboratories of the Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury &hellipÂ*

&hellipwe&rsquove awarded over $2 million in Quality of Life grants&hellipÂ*

&hellip and we&rsquove even opened our own core laboratories.Â*

And 2002 may prove to be our best year to date. For example, CRPF will award $10 million in research grants this year. That&rsquos far more money than we have ever been able to devote to spinal cord injury research in a single year.Â*

Equally exciting, CRPF expects to award more than $1.2 million in Quality of Life grants in 2002. The Quality of Life grants support organizations that improve the quality of life of people living with the pain, confusion and
frustration that often accompanies a spinal cord injury.Â*

Both of these ongoing efforts will get a major boost this spring with the launch of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. The Paralysis Resource Center will provide the information and assistance that people living with paralysis, and their caregivers, need to get back out into a world that seems so different since their injury.Â*

Learning to live with paralysis is a tremendous adjustment, but now there is every reason to believe it&rsquoll be a temporary one. Human trials for effective therapies are already in the planning stages or actually underway. The motto of the Foundation is alive and well: We must. We can. We will.Â*

Christopher ReeveÂ*
Â*

[This message was edited by seneca on Aug 15, 2002 at 04:00 AM.]

[cheesecake]

Seneca,
This is recent. A birthday celebration as well as the major annual fundraiser for CRPF, "A Magical Evening" will be held on Wednesday September 25th in New York City. To find out more about the event, go to www.ChristopherReeve.org. A link to information is on the home page.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.
It's already tomorrow in Australia!"----- Charles Schultz