Can you name them all?

Burning for a cure

I got an idea in my head the other day. With the increased burning in my legs crazy thoughts do come to me and I have to do a little bit of a reality check. The problems though with reality checks is they often stop you from doing what needs to be done.


So, I'm going to write about it and while I'm writing, I'm going to think about it, and at the end, I may decide to go ahead.


My idea goes a little like this.
1. Write to the ministers or secretaries or whatever they call themselves of Health in the G8 countries.


2. I'm going to invite them to a skype conference about curing paralysis. They get together about other stuff, so why not curing paralysis? I feel that this is an important enough thing that they can spare two or three hours for.


3. I'm going to empathise with their problems about limited budgets and then give them an idea that if they work together it will be cheaper.


4. When we work out a good time for the call, I'm going to get them to invite the top researcher from their own countries. If they don't know these people, I'll give them a list. There's no sense having a bunch of health ministers sitting on the phone together because they wouldn't know what to talk about, and since the first one who talks about ramps is getting cut off I have to make sure they got someone to listen to.


5. Then I'm going to call a few friends of mine and I'm certain they will attend. These are people who know stuff and especially why there is currently no cure for paralysis.


6. So at this point there will be scientists working on a CURE for CHRONIC spinal cord injury. They'll know about the science and what they need. There will be ministers of health who control money and all those regulatory bodies that can get in the way. And then there will be me and my friends who can tell everyone why it's currently not working.


7. Then we're going to dole out the homework and get together in another month to see who's done what and we're going to keep doing this until it gets done.


So tell me. Am I crazy? Does this have a chance to work? I think that they're going to ignore me and then I'll have to ask you all to write to them to organise this.


I decided to try. And so I don't bug others that I work with right now, I'll first see how it goes.
I might just be crazy enough to pull it off. And so I don't chicken out, I'm emailing this directly to my blog

BlackBerry from DOCOMO

Response to recent Rick Hansen interview - no more ramps please

After the recent announcement by the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF), I had promised myself that I wouldn't be writing another letter to the newspapers about this group until an email that I sent to the CEO had a chance to be answered. I figured that we were making progress so another fair chance to answer was warranted.


Well, I couldn't let a recently published interview with Mr. Hansen in the High River Times go unanswered. 


So without going into further detail, I will let my Letter to the Editor speak for itself and will let you know if and when it's published.


*********************************
Dear Editor,

I read your interview with Mr. Rick Hansen, Hansen: Relay a great success so far, with a certain amount of disgust.

Being one of the most well known people in Canada he had a chance to educate people about the breakthroughs being made in central nervous system (CNS) regeneration, i.e., a cure for spinal cord injury (SCI). Instead, he spent his time talking about “wheelchair parking, ramps, and curb cuts.”

He goes on to tell us about those with SCI being, “in politics, media, teaching, and a part of society.” He makes it sound like those of us in chairs have almost got it made and don’t need a cure, just more understanding. But a report done by his own organization, the Rick Hansen Institute, tells us that 60% of those living with SCI are unemployed. Of course Mr. Hansen does state that it’s, “not everyone.” Not everyone? At 60% unemployment, it’s not even half of everyone with SCI.

He calls, “meeting someone in their late-twenties who has a spinal cord injury and to see them in a photo where they were beside me during the original tour (twenty five years ago),” progress. This is not progress but rather the sad evidence of society’s failure to make a cure for SCI a top priority. You cannot cover the world with ramps and curb cuts, real progress for those living with SCI is a cure.

The failure to make this cure possible is not only the fault of Mr. Hansen, but as a man who controls one of the largest SCI organizations in the world and millions in public funds, his words in this interview clearly show why we have not yet achieved a cure.

I ask Mr. Hansen to make a cure for SCI the number one priority of his organizations and to make money available for this end. I would also like him to publicly state the total percentage of  funds being spent by his organization to cure spinal cord injury as he has never answered the over 300 people who sent emails sent to RHF asking for this information.

Words are nice, but figures and accomplishments are what count most to us living with SCI.

A cure will not be announced on this blog

I want to tell you how irrational I am from time to time, especially on days when the pain and pins and needles are most intense. 


I actually log on to my favourite spinal cord injury bulletin board to check if a cure was announced while I was sleeping. Being that I am anywhere from seven to sixteen hours behind Europe and the west coast of North America I don't find it impossible (or don't want to find it impossible) that a cure could be announced while I'm sleeping in Osaka.


Laugh if you will, but it sure would be nice, and I'm sure that there are many just like me who log on hoping to find the cure announced. Why not? We were paralyzed instantaneously so why shouldn't there be an instantaneous cure? 


But after I really wake up, wipe the sleep from my eyes, and log on, I only find announcements of yet another research paper. Don't get me wrong; research papers are good, but I'll be clear, ONLY reading research papers for us non-scientists will not get us walking.


Understanding the science, if you can, is important and for those who are so inclined, understanding the science will even help the cure along, but millions of paralyzed people becoming amateur scientists is not the answer to the problem because the problem is not the science.


If you read my blog regularly you'll see that I have never doubted that science will solve the riddle of regenerating a damaged spinal cord, the only worry that I've ever had is that the science will not get to us, that it will stop at making chimpanzees walk for circus shows.


There are many barriers to the science:

• Money for research and trials.
• A lack of willingness by governments to make a cure for paralysis a priority.
• Regulatory agencies which put so many hoops in our way that bringing a new therapy to trials becomes almost impossible.
• Foundations that raise money for cure but spend it building ramps.
• Propaganda that almost makes it sound like we're having a good time in our chairs so there is no need to rush.

...and many more.


I think it's these barriers that we in the paralysis community can smash down. Not sitting and waiting to be cured. Not sitting and waiting for regulatory agencies to give a green light. Not sitting and waiting while promising research languishes in the lab because of a lack of funding.


A common question on the board that I visit is WHEN (and then it's debated to death). I will stick my neck out and answer NEVER if we just sit and wait and read about science. 


I have often been told that those in the paralysis community aren't motivated, but I don't believe this. What bigger motivation than a cure is there for us? I also believe that being active will even make people more positive in their daily lives because instead of waiting, instead of asking when, we will be making 'when' happen. I think that the problem comes down to people not knowing how to do 'cure' or feeling that they can't have any impact.


So I would like to ask all of you involved in a cure to tell everyone what cure activities you are involved in. Basically, I want to hear how you 'cure'? Tell us what you do and why you do it. Motivate others to do the same and more. Let's build off your ideas.


So today I will end this post by asking one question.


That question is not on what you think should be done, that's important, but I want to start at a more basic point for now. Here is my question?


How do you DO 'cure'?

YOU, YOURS, and Rick Hansen

Before I tell you what YOU accomplished, let me tell YOU that when people say that sending emails to big organizations to influence them to is a waste, YOU can tell them that they're wrong!

YOU made a big difference in one of the biggest spinal-cord-injury organizations in the world.
Because of YOUR emails the Rick Hansen Foundation looks like it has taken a change of course.

The first big news:
The Interdependence global conference sponsored by the Rick Hansen Foundation announced some very shocking news. In their own words, "Based on industry feedback and due to the current economic climate, the Interdependence 2012 program will now focus solely on Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research and Development."

They had planned a conference about accessibility, and healthy inclusive worlds, but YOUR email telling RHF to focus on cure made them rethink what's important to those living with paralysis. They call it "industry feedback", but I call it YOUR email.

The second big news:
This was also announced in regards to the Interdependence conference.

"The Rick Hansen Institute is providing emerging companies, seeking financing for an innovation related to accelerating progress to a cure for paralysis after spinal cord injury or innovations that will improve the lives of those living with SCI, the opportunity to pitch their company and innovation to the delegation at Interdependence 2012."

The Rick Hansen group is turning towards cure and YOU were a part of that because YOU sent an email, because YOU told YOUR friends on Facebook to send an email, and because YOU asked YOUR mother to send one, too.

We're not out of the woods yet.

These announcements do not mean that RHF...
...is now spending more on cure.
...will dedicate a larger portion of their funds on cure 

And it definitely does not mean that YOU and I can now rest.

I'm sure that YOUR voice wasn't the only thing that made them change, but two big coincidences in a row would be strange.

It does mean that they are open to hear YOUR voice if YOU say it in unison with others. So now YOU have to make sure that this is not an image campaign, that they will spend real money on cure.

Stay tuned for the next campaign when YOU demand more money for cure because in the end cure is the ultimate care and it beats the hell out of any wheelchair ramp.

A crank for cure!

On 26 January, the Winnipeg Free Press carried my letter (third from the top) in both their online and print editions in response to their article 'Man in Motion still on a roll'. Also, don't forget the 13 January letter that I got printed in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal with all of your help.


I'm going to start getting the reputation as a crank if I don't stop. When I was a kid I used to read the paper and think that all the people who wrote 'letters to the editor' didn't have anything better to do with their time, and that yes, that they were cranks.


Well, when I think of all the money, $245 million, that the Rick Hansen Foundation has raised, and then think about their lack of spending on translational research for a cure, I don't mind being labelled a crank.


So, from now on, every time the media carries a news report about the Rick Hansen Relay rolling through towns and cities across Canada, I'm going to send a letter to the editor explaining the alternative view to Rick's work. That alternative view is that even though Rick is a good guy and has done a lot, twenty five years later he doesn't see that the place to be spending those millions is on research into the regeneration of the spinal cord. Well, until he gets it, I'm going to keep writing and asking you to write. 


So pick up your keyboard and start writing, it's a great way to keep cure in the public eye, and it works. 


I'm providing you with a list of major cities and dates for the rest of the relay along with a list of newspapers and email addresses to send your letters to. 


Regina, Saskatchewan: 4-9 February. Send an email to the Regina Leader Post at letters@leaderpost.com.
Calgary, Alberta: 26-27 February. Send an email to the Calgary Herald at letters@calgaryherald.com
Edmonton, Alberta: 12-14 March. Send an email to the Edmonton Journal at letters@edmontonjournal.com
Vancouver, British Columbia: 21-22 May. Send an email to the Province at provletters@theprovince.com
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26 January 2012, Winnipeg Free Press (Print Edition)

All talk, no action

As your Jan. 22 article on the Rick Hansen Relay, Man in Motion still on a roll, mentions, the world has changed greatly. According to Hansen, "There is now hope in the laboratory that the newly injured will walk away or that there will even be a cure for spinal-cord injury."

But this hope for a cure, which is backed up by science and proven in animal studies, will not happen without funding.

A study of the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) and its research arm leaves one sorely unimpressed with their funding of translational research for central nervous system (CNS) regeneration, i.e., a cure for paralysis.

This concern is what led about 300 people from around the world to write to the RHF. Sadly, this question was never addressed in the foundation's answers.

The real story is not about how Hansen motivates people to believe, but rather why 25 years later Hansen does not believe that funding, not words or parades, is necessary for a cure.

I truly hate to make such a statement, but when Hansen's organization fails to openly answer such a question to his own constituents, one cannot help but doubt his own commitment to the cure that he raises funds for.

DENNIS TESOLAT

Osaka, Japan

One click to support the march against paralysis

One click to Send a message of support to Joe and to major newspapers across the world to let them know what Joe Kals is doing.

Join the Facebook page 'Walking on the moon with Joe Kals'.

Many people don't know Joe Kals, and I didn't either until I read about him walking 1325km from north to south across France - and Joe can't walk. He has been a paraplegic for thirty years. His 1325km trek is being done with braces and crutches.

Joe is raising money and awareness for what many scientists already believe is possible, a cure for paralysis - so that you, and I, and Joe may one day walk across the beauty of France without braces and crutches.
Now that I've told you what Joe IS doing, let me tell you what he isn't doing.

He isn't raising funds and awareness for...
...a more inclusive world for those with SCI.
...a barrier free world so we can ride our chairs wherever we wish.

All admirable things, but Joe is doing this for ONE reason only, "So that human beings can live life without the consequences of spinal cord injury."

Watch our video and send this to your friends, colleagues, and family to let them know that a cure for spinal cord injury IS possible.

Make a donation to Joe by visiting his website at http://www.joekals.com/. The site is in French but click 'faire un don' in the upper left hand corner. All money raised will be donated to the French organization ALARME which is 100% dedicated to a cure for spinal cord injury.