Spinal Cord Society NZ Inc.

I might be on the wrong side of 65 years of age now, but I once had a dream that I can now accept will be a reality:

Within my lifetime, people who suffer injury to their spinal columns will be treated in hospital like anybody else with a serious breakage, and walk out again after a few weeks� treatment.

And they will resume their normal lives.

A lifetime, most often shortened and confined to a wheelchair, the difficulties of needing help with daily bowel and bladder control, the many complex and painful side-effects will all be gone.

Mankind will have broken another major frontier in medical care.

We New Zealanders tend to be modest and that�s probably why so few people know about the excellent research work that has been going on for almost 20 years in our research lab in Dunedin.

We are now starting the next stage of research � actual operations on the injured spines of people confined to wheelchairs. Other countries have already started with promising results, but the exciting aspect of our start is that we have taken a few more years to understand � perhaps better than any other nation � how a person�s own stem cells can play a role in repairing their own spinal cords.

There is nothing controversial about the journey upon which we are starting.

Indeed, it is all about harnessing what is natural and without any unnatural interference, helping people back to fully functional lives.

Please support us on this journey. More than 5000 wheelchair-bound kiwis and many more of their family members will benefit by your generosity

Our dream is about to come true


Noela Vallis

Chair and founder

Spinal Cord Society of New Zealand