Bill would spend $10M on spinal injuries research
Proposal calls for input from person with spinal injury in grant review
MADISON - Lawmakers are seeking to improve the lives of people living with paralysis by investing in a grant program that would fund research into spinal cord injuries.
The legislation would invest $10 million over two years into a research program seeking to find new treatments and rehabilitative efforts for people with spinal cord injuries. The bill would require the state’s Higher Educational Aids Board to create a spinal cord injury council consisting of public health officials and someone with a spinal injury to review and award the grants.
Rep. Jimmy Anderson, D-Fitchburg, who is sponsoring the bill, said research on spinal cordrelated issues in the state is “underfunded and discombobulated.” He added that his bill is unique because it not only tries to find a cure for spinal injuries but also gives people with these injuries a voice in the process.
“It actually brings in input from people with spinal cord injuries to say: ‘This is what my life is like. These are the things that I need. These are the kinds of proposals and research we would like you to do,’ ” said Anderson, who was paralyzed from the chest down after a drunken driver caused a car crash in 2010 that also claimed the lives of Anderson’s family members.
Under the bill, the grant council would hold an event every two years for grant recipients to present their research and findings.
A new voice
Matthew Rodreick, executive director of advocacy group Unite 2 Fight Paralysis, at a Capitol news conference echoed Anderson’s sentiment that spinal cord research is underfunded, adding that the push for spinal cord research needs a new voice.
“That voice is this community’s voice — people who live with a spinal cord injury,” said Rodreick, whose son has a spinal injury. “People who research this injury need to be in a better relationship with people who have this injury.”
Rodreick called the $10 million allocation of tax money small compared to the amount it costs for the state to handle these injuries.
“The lifetime costs of people living with an injury are very high,” he said. “There is a heavy burden to the state, so we look at this $10 million request as very, very modest relative to the price of assisting people to live their daily lives.”
Anderson said that while there have been national efforts that have improved spinal cord injury rehabilitation, this effort could make Wisconsin a “premier state for spinal cord injury research.”
“I know that we are so close to finding a cure,” Anderson said. “We are on the cusp of a breakthrough if only we had a slight push.”