Sometimes, in the midst of that is gloomy and dark, a shining ray of light appears, that warms the soul.
The law named after my paralyzed son, California's Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act, had its funding removed-- but now-- get ready for some good news!
PARALYSIS CURE BILL BACK ON TRACK!
By Don C. Reed
As you know, despite tremendous success, the funding for California’s Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act was cut off.
Well, here is some great news, in the following email from my son, Roman Reed.
Dear Friend of Research for Cure:
Great news to share!
Assembly Bill 1657 Roman Reed Research Funding Act was officially filed today in CA!
We need your support as the first committee vote (Public Safety) is next Tuesday, March 27th.
We need one short email letter of support, copied to:
Bob.Wieckowski@asm.ca.gov
Jeff.barbosa@asm.ca.gov
Trisha.Tahmasbi@asm.ca.gov
Public Safety Committee vote on 3/27
Letters should be simple, and not long. All that is really needed is one sentence, something like:
“I (state your name) strongly support Assembly Bill 1657, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act.”
If you want to add more, great, but be sure to at least send that one sentence, because we just got the news, and things are moving fast.
Background:
The Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act was first signed into CA Law in 1999. We provide State funds of 1.5 Million annually to be administered through the UC system to any researcher in CA working on SCI or closely related. Our program is operated at the UC Irvine Christopher Reeve Center and the Roman Reed Core Laboratory is supported within the Center and provides on-site equipment free of charge to new SCI researchers or collaborations.
Supported over 300 Scientists and staff, our program produced over 125 peer reviewed medical breakthroughs, and provided the initial funding to pioneer Dr. Hans Keirstead’s work with re-insulating the damaged spine-- work that became the Geron Trials!
What's more, we may well be the most fiscally beneficial law in America, bringing in over 4 dollars from out-of-State funds for every 1 dollar granted in State.
In other words, our 15 million dollars in California funding, attracted 63.5 Million in matching grants from the National Institutes of Health and other out of State sources—leveraging $15 million into $78 million—new monies for our state and new hope for our community.
We speeding up the day of paralysis cure!
Remember our immortal champion Christopher Reeve’s words:
“One day, Roman and I will stand up from our wheelchairs and walk away from them forever.”
Cure did not come in time for the paralyzed Superman, but the flame of his faith still lights our way. Let us go forward, as he always said, and win this battle.
Your help is needed now.
Let’s make this happen.
Sincerely Yours,
Roman Reed