As Kate Willette wrote in her must-read book, Don’t Call It A Miracle, the medical breakthroughs that reduced the impact of the AIDS epidemic were brought about not by a brilliant scientist, or a rich investor, or an innovative biotech company.
Rather, HIV/AIDS became treatable primarily because the brilliant scientists, rich investors, and innovative biotech companies were helped to succeed through the persistent advocacy of the affected ‘patient group’.
Everyday people (and their families and friends) who were impacted by AIDS decided to educate and activate themselves. As Kate writes, these advocates: “earned the respect of both scientists and bureaucrats … and their members had seats at the table where decisions were made about how studies should be designed.”
This is exactly what U2FP is doing with our Cure Advocacy Network (CAN) initiative. And it’s working!
In Ohio, we have just secured $3 million in the Governor’s proposed budget for SCI research, which will be voted on later this session.
And in Wisconsin, we're currently working on refining the draft of a Bill with the hope that it will be introduced this session. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.
These Bills represent the potential to accelerate curative therapies for SCI and add momentum to the SCI Community’s movement for cures.
But we can't keep pace with this progress without your help. That’s why starting today we're kicking off a campaign to add 35 new monthly donors.
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: we don’t need a hero. We need a team, a community, a movement of people to find Cures for Spinal Cord Injury.
Be a part of this movement: become a monthly donor and help Fuel the Journey!
Your monthly support means U2FP can:
- broaden and deepen our education, advocacy and research initiatives (Working 2 Walk, Team U2FP, CureCast podcast, Scientific Advisory Board, and Our Voice blog and Newsletter) that are the foundation of our Cure Advocacy Network
- support our CAN activists as they make the case for cures in OH and WI
- potentially expand this movement to YOUR state
We’re making progress, but we need your help to keep building this movement. Become a monthly donor and Fuel the Journey.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover - and we're making progress - but we can’t do it without you!
Join us!
Matthew Rodreick, Executive Director
U2FP
