Why: In April 2009, The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation released the results of a survey of over 33,000 households that reported 40 percent more Americans live with paralysis and over five times the number of Americans live with spinal cord injury than had previously been estimated. Specifically, the survey showed that 1.275 million have had a spinal cord injury and over 5.6 million Americans live with some form of paralysis. The highest previous estimates were 250,000 and roughly four million, respectively.

Through a cooperative agreement with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Reeve Foundation is able to support the activities of its Paralysis Resource Center (PRC), Quality of Life grants program, and the NeuroRecovery Network (NRN). The PRC promotes the health and well-being of people living with a spinal cord injury, mobility impairment, and paralysis by providing comprehensive information, resources and referral services. Our Quality of Life grants program are awarded to nonprofit organizations that address that needs of people living with paralysis caused by spinal cord and other injuries, diseases and birth conditions, including (but not limited to) stroke, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral scleroses (ALS). The NRN is a network of cutting-edge rehabilitation centers whose staffs have been trained in intensive activity-based treatments. We also are establishing a new national peer-to-peer support network, which will pair individuals newly injured with someone who has had a spinal cord injury and can provide practical, technical and emotional support.

We need your help to ensure that we have the funding to reach as many paralyzed Americans as possible who will benefit from the PRC, Quality of Life grants program, the peer-to-peer mentoring program and the NRN. On Tuesday July 28th, the United States Senate appropriations subcommittee on labor, health, education and related agencies will be marking up the bill that will fund the cooperative agreement with the CDC. We need you to write, call and/or email your Senator and ask them to support a $10 million appropriation that supports the work of the Reeve Foundation.