September 12, 2025
Research Matters
Quinn Brett
I know it doesn’t feel like it sometimes but SCI research matters. Yes, it is slow. Yes, it is complicated. Yes, it often dies in bureaucracies. But the importance of functional recovery research is not an abstraction for me. We all age into disability, reduced function and even neurological diseases.
Like many of you, I’m trying to do everything I can to push good research forward. We will be touched by this in some way in our lifetime, if you haven’t already been. It’s why I joined U2FP - it’s our whole freaking mission!
I sometimes get frustrated with people (often in our own community) who are naysayers or like to pretend nothing’s happening. Shit is happening - it is! It is expensive, complicated and largely focused on our secondary complications. But secondary complications are no joke - I want improvements in bowel, bladder, sexual function, blood pressure, etc. I tell the naysayers this and they just look at me blankly and say things like, “But you can’t walk.” Sigh.
So I made this video and posted it on social media last week. Give it a watch if you haven’t already seen it. (It’s based on a TikTok parody that went viral earlier this year, about having a conversation with people who don’t seem to “get it”).
It was cathartic for sure - BUT, it wasn’t just talk. As I mentioned in another article last week, we’ve collected stories of recovery from our community and will be sharing them with you all this month, SCI Awareness Month.
Here’s the first of many to come, which we just shared yesterday on social media as well.
This is our gold star Wisconsin CAN advocate Samantha Troyer. She’s a high level quad who recently got an epidural stimulator developed by researchers funded through the Minnesota SCI/TBI Research Grant bill. Her hand was stuck in a fist for 15 years, then she got the stimulator and not only did it reduce her nerve pain (the initial intention) but it also gave her some hand/wrist function back. That is not a small feat. Imagine not being able to use your hand for 15 years and then suddenly having some control over it again!!!
Yes, that bill was pushed through the Minnesota legislature by U2FP and other SCI activists over eight years ago. It’s also why Samantha is working with U2FP to pass a similar bill in Wisconsin to help fund SCI research.
It’s worth noting that these bills are being guided by the SCI Community - we’ve mandated this in all our state legislative funding bills. The SCI community must have equal say with research scientists on what proposals get funded. We live with this injury - we should be at the decision-making table where therapies are being developed.
Please consider supporting this important but difficult work U2FP is doing. We’ve put the SCI community at the center of the conversation around functional recovery, because research matters more to us than to anyone else.
All this month, we’re working to secure a $50,000 matching donation. Help us hit our goal by the end of September so we can continue educating and advocating for SCI research and expediting functional recovery.
Join us!
