Still time to register your support for the California Cure

SEND FAX OR EMAIL NOW!

Over 300 people have emailed and faxed their support for Roman's Law (AB714) for $2 million annually in spending on a cure for spinal cord injury and other forms of paralysis.

The bill has been already passed in one committee and is now in front of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee. We thought that they would vote on 1 May, but it's been put off till 24 May.

This gives you a chance to send your fax (free and online) or email to this committee and stand up for cure so someday everyone can.

OR SEND AN EMAIL!

Email to support the Regenerative Medicine Promotion Act of 2013

Members of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) will be on Capitol Hill on 8 May advocating for the Regenerative Medicine Promotion Act of 2013.  We will be running this campaign to back them up for a few days only!

Unite 2 Fight Paralysis along with more than 120 other members support the work of ARM and ask you to join them in supporting their efforts on Capitol Hill. An overview of their mission to promote research and commercial development of regenerative medicine (RM) products is provided on their website.   

WE NEED YOU TO DO 2 THINGS NOW!

1. Add your name to our petition using the form below to Senators Mark Kirk (IL), Rob Portman (OH), and Orrin hatch (UT). And to the following members of the House of Representatives: Erik Paulsen (MN), Pat Meehan (PA), Ed Whitfield (KY), Michael Burgess (TX), Joe Pitts (PA) and ask them to support this important bill. Your name, country, state, and city will then be added on our list to be present.

2. After you send the email, you will be redirected to a site to find and write to your own legislator and also ask them to support this bill. You don't have to do this part, but we sure hope you do.

We can't all be there to help in their efforts but we can work together to inspire some legislators to support this bill. Share with them that people around the world look to them for leadership in this very important matter. Supporting this bill promotes therapies for diseases and conditions which will lower health care costs and provide a better quality of life to people suffering from devastating illnesses and injuries. 

This campaign is now closed. Thank you for all your support.

A cure for my paralysed teeth

I've wanted to write this post for sometime, but didn't know how to write it. I was a little concerned that maybe folks would treat it like a nice little story and then forget about it.

Anyhow what I'm going to do is write and then you can decide if it's just another thing that I'm complaining about OR if helps you see how paralysis affects everything in my life, including my teeth.

I'm sure you know that my teeth themselves are not actually paralyzed. I can bite and chew just like a normal person. About two months ago I realised that the molar way at the back of my mouth, maybe a wisdom tooth, was lose.

I am terrified of the dentist (OK, call me a chicken) and the first thing that came to mind was not my tooth, but how I felt that I should at least catch a break on small things (the scary dentist) since I already have to live with paralysis. It's a crazy idea that if we have a big problem we should be let off the hook for life's other health concerns, but it's exactly what I thought.

Well, this is not the connection between my lose molar and paralysis and I bet that if I don't tell you the connection you'll never get it.

OK, first you think of the connection for a second and then read on and be honest about whether you got it by yourself.

The good news is that the tooth is not rotten as it doesn't actually hurt so much and isn't affected by cold drinks. I realised just the other day why it's lose.

What's the first thing you do when you get a sudden sharp pain somewhere in your body? That's right, you clench your teeth. So in this case me and and an able bodied person are the same.

The difference is this; while an able bodied person may have to clench their teeth due to harsh pain a couple of time a year, I have at least 50 incidents of shooting pain every day. I guess you can see the different impact on our teeth.

Most able bodied folks don't see pain as a part of paralysis, they only see lack of movement and lack of feeling. The lack of feeling part often leads people to think there is no pain. You can understand this. No feeling equals no pain. Makes sense, but neuropathic pain, doesn't make sense.

I don't know how I can describe the sudden pains that I get in my hips which cause me to clench my teeth (the burning in my legs doesn't cause teeth clenching because it's not sudden, but constant). I guess the only way that I can explain it to you is to imagine a spinning drill boring into your hips, removed, and then reinserted a few times. I think you can maybe imagine the pain. Or, keeping on our teeth conversation, it's like when the dentist is drilling (with no freezing) and he hits a nerve. Think about that pain fifty times a day.
I hope this helps you understand about another reason we fight for cure. If it was just about lack of movement I could see how many able bodied people wouldn't understand as they see that we have chairs which give us some degree of freedom (if you can actually move the chair yourself).

So, when we ask you to write and email and fax and talk to your friends about cure and you think that you're too busy, remember that drill hitting your hips or that nerve and you'll see why sometime being pushy about cure is important!

May Day

My May Day messages have always been filled with hope and this year is no different.

The international effort to cure paralysis is going ahead, but after three operations I hope you'll let me digress a little and talk about what spinal cord injury (SCI) has stolen from me.

One is May Day.

For many many years I was the one who got our troops together and took them over to the parade ground. I loved it.

That's not the case three surgeries later. Now I'm left with pain and fatigue and I don't know which is worse.

So this year I will let my colleague deal with May Day, but I know that I will lead my union's contingent at May Day in the future.

This is my hope for international solidarity.

Add your voice to the $2 million California Cure! Send FAX or EMAIL

You did it once and now we want you to do it again!

Your faxes and emails got the California House of Representative's Health Committee to approve two million dollars in annual funding for paralysis cure.

Now, we need your strength to get it through the powerful Appropriations Committee which meets at 9AM on 1 May.

It's up to you again. Send your fax (free and online) or email now to support Roman's law in California for $2 million annually in cure money!

AB714 (Wieckowski D), also known as Roman's Law, will directly fund the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant Fund and Core Laboratory. In addition, it will also provide a research funding account and lab to the University of California to fund and carry out pioneering science to advance the field of spinal cord injury research. AB714 will also provide funding to ALL of the best spinal cord injury research scientists at Universities, Industry and Colleges in California.

You'll be called upon again for the many committees that this must go through and you're voice at EVERY stage will be the deciding factor.

The campaign is now closed. Thank you for your support.

Another email if you care about CURE

I know that now all my readers are American. Heck, I'm not American, but because I care about cure, I'm sending one more email to the Minnesota senate to get the Jablonski Rodreick Bill back on track. Seems that it's gotten stuck and we need you to unstick it.

First, for those of you who don't know about it, or remember it, I'll give you the short version of the bill.

It is requesting an annual $4 million dollar investment into research to discover a CURE for paralysis.

So, why do we need your help?

Well, a lot of you not being American, and it's even confusing for Americans I think, I'll again give you a short summary and then urge you to send your email immediately.

Basically, this bill will not be included in the budget which will be voted on by the Minnesota House of Representatives. Why? I don't know why. The bill had already passed numerous committee votes.

But there still is hope, and if you believe in a cure for paralysis, you do believe in hope and also know that hoping is not enough. We got to work at it.

Here's the hope. The Minnesota senate also puts forward a budget bill and if we can get the Jablonski Rodreick Bill into the senate budget, there is still a chance to get it through!

So, I want you to write to Sen. Lourey and the Health and Human Services Finance Committee members and ask them to include our paralysis cure bill in the senate budget.

You sent one email and passed it through a load of committees, now I want you to send one more and UNSTICK this bill.

This campaign has ended. Thank you for your support.

From Minnesota to California – Your emails will cure paralysis

Send an email to the California Assembly to support $2 million for paralysis cure!

A month or so ago I asked you to support a bill to increase funding for paralysis cure in Minnesota, and you responded. Your emails have pushed this bill through yet another hurdle as it just passed the senate finance committee.

Senator Hayden introduced the Bill by saying; ‘you may have heard of this Bill’…to which Senator Franzen replied, ‘yes, my inbox is full of messages showing support for this Bill’.

Yes, they've heard about the Bill, thanks to all of you.

Beside the unanimous vote to move forward, was some glowing commentary and support voiced by Republican Senator Kiffmeyer. She spoke for a few minutes about her support, and for all of the very kind and insightful things she said, the one that was most encouraging was: ‘This Bill’s time has come’.

Now, I want you to do the same in California to send an email to support Roman’s Law for funding for paralysis cure. 

The first hearing will be the California Assembly's Health Committee on 15 April, but we have to move quickly as we only have a few days to get our appeal in this time. 

Roman’s Law (AB714 Wieckowski, D) is for $2 million to restore funding to the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant Fund and Core Laboratory. In addition, it will also provide a research funding account and lab to the University of California to fund and carry out pioneering science to advance the field of spinal cord injury research. AB714 will also provide funding to ALL of the best spinal cord injury research scientists at Universities, Industry and Colleges in California.

This is another bill whose time has come. Let’s make sure that we show our support for this law by sending a simple email so that politicians in California will also say, ‘yes, my inbox is full of messages showing support for this Bill’.

The campaign has closed. Thanks for your great support!

Roman Reed never gives up in his quest to cure paralysis!

Let's stand up so one day everybody can!!

The Roman Reed Foundation has been working hard and they have some great news. They have launched TWO California Assembly Bills to make funding and support for curing paralysis Californian Law. The California Assembly Bills, AB714 & AB666, have been authored by Assembly member Bob Wieckowski (D).

AB714 Wieckowski (D) will directly fund the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant Fund and Core Laboratory. In addition, it will also provide a research funding account and lab to the University of California to fund and carry out pioneering science to advance the field of spinal cord injury research. AB714 will also provide funding to ALL of the best spinal cord injury research scientists at Universities, Industry and Colleges in California.

AB666 Wieckowski (D) will lower the fines for getting a red-light ticket, and thus increase compliance in the number of people paying the fine. A portion of the fine will go to the Roman Reed program at UC Irvine and a portion to cities to help them cover the costs of disputed tickets. This funding mechanism will fund the research to help treat and ease the suffering of over 5.6 million Americans suffering any form of paralysis, including 1.275 million Americans paralyzed from spinal cord injury and untold millions the world over suffer from paralysis, we all need cure!

If enacted, these bills will create jobs, enable medical breakthroughs and produce new revenue for the State. These bills, commonly referred to as ‘Roman’s Law’ are widely supported by a number of senior government representatives, leading researchers and scientists and numerous individuals and organisations that currently fighting to cure paralysis.

We're going to need you soon to send emails in support of this law and will be in touch very soon. 

Let's stand up so one day everybody can.
For more information.

Still time for a Minnesota cure email!

Great news!

Last Wednesday the The Jablonski/Rodreick SCI/TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) Research Fund passed it's second hurdle in the Minnesota legilsature. This means we are that much closer to an extra $4 million in annual spending on a cure for paralysis.

The bill has already made it through two committees and you still have time to send an email if you already haven't supporting this bill to members of the Senate Health and Human Services Finance Committee which will meet on 12 March.

So please spend 15 seconds and send an email by using the links below to let legislators know that you support this effort.

We’ll keep you informed of the Bill’s progress and let you know when we need your support again to ensure this very important piece of legislation goes all the way to getting passed.

This campaign has now ended.

You can find out more about the people behind this important legislation in this very informative article.

Welcome to the NEW StemCells&AtomBombs

Keep on pushing for CURE!

My name is Dennis Tesolat and I suffered a spinal cord injury in 2009 due to a hemorrhage in my spinal cord and am now a paraplegic.

I'd like to introduce you to the newly redesigned blog. You can now view all the language versions of the blog at www.StemCellsandAtomBombs.org.

I'd also like to take this time to say a special thank you to all the translators who have helped in the past and to welcome a whole load of new ones. These people make sure that our voices for paralysis cure are heard across the world.

I started this blog soon after my injury with only one purpose in mind; to raise awareness for a cure for paralysis. I was in the hospital for over a year and had a lot of time to study about many things. One was the power of stem cells and other up and coming therapies to regenerate the spinal cord. Another was the atomic bomb. I recognized that even the most perplexing scientific challenges could be overcome by strong leadership and a deadly timeline.

If this could be done for something as wicked as the abomb, it can also be done to cure paralysis. For me and millions across the world living with paralysis, we face the same deadly timeline.

This blog has put me in touch with many great cure activists throughout the world and because of my work with these people the purpose of the blog has changed from solely raising awareness to actively campaigning for a cure.

You too can become a cure activist by following this blog, joining in the campaigns, and encouraging your family and friends to take part, too, by becoming a CureCaptain.

I don't believe in a cure because I'm in a chair. I believe in a cure because scientists say it is possible, and animal studies show us clear results. I don't believe a cure for paralysis is a scientific problem, but rather a political and economic one and therefore our actions can have a profound impact.

Make sure that you raise your voice for cure. Not a cure in some distant future, but for cure NOW!

You can help immediately:

• by signing up to be a CureCaptain and spread the cure message through your social network.
• like us on facebook
• subscribe or follow this blog by using the menu on the left

These are small things but together will add up to paralysis cure.