September 24, 2025
"Research Doesn't Do Anything"
Quinn Brett
Every week, I see variations of the following sentiment all over the SCI interwebs: “But #research doesn’t do anything...smh.”
Well, we at U2FP call BS. Our friend and fellow advocate, Walt Schumacher, calls BS too.
Walt is a T5 ASIA A Paraplegic. He too felt frustrated with the slow pace of SCI research and the misinformation around functional recovery progress. Walt put his disappointment and impatience into action, joining our growing army of advocates to help move the needle towards better, faster progress.
Take a look:
Walt’s been part of a clinical trial at Kessler Foundation and is seeing improvement from an epidural stimulator paired with physical therapy. He has purposely been sharing his progress on social media, trying to shift the narrative that research isn’t “doing” anything. (To find out more information about Kessler Foundation and the work they're doing go to KesslerFoundation.org)
For SCI Awareness Month we have been highlighting the progress - the tangible functional recovery gains - that real humans are experiencing.
Our work at Unite 2 Fight Paralysis is to educate our community about functional recovery research, and elevate our voice as participants in all aspects of the process. We do this by placing folks with an SCI as consultants into research labs, by advocating in our Capitols for more research funding (we’ve secured over 40M in SCI research funding in 4 different states), and by bringing everyone (companies, funders, regulators, researchers, and the SCI community) together at our Annual Science & Advocacy Symposium each year.
These efforts have contributed to finding real treatments for real people, like Walt. One of our early advocacy efforts helped fund the research behind the recent FDA-approved ARC-EX System that ONWARD Medical developed (Here’s that story, in case you missed it).
We can’t do this without your support. Please donate this month to advance Unite 2 Fight Paralysis’s advocacy - your contribution will be doubled (up to $50,000!) by an anonymous donor from the SCI community! Then consider becoming a monthly donor if you aren't already — with your help we can continue to improve our community's quality of life!
Thank you Walt, for sharing your story. Thanks Kessler Foundation for moving the needle. Thank you Doctors Kirshblum, Angeli, Forrest, and Harkema for pursuing answers for our community.
Join us!
PS - Want to meet the top scientists, clinicians and researchers in an environment that centers the SCI community? Come to our Annual Science & Advocacy Symposium happening February 15-17 in Washington, D.C. and learn about where the science is headed and what you can do to help. Register here!
