VISION AND PURPOSE

 Members of SCSNZ are not content to see large numbers of New Zealanders with damaged spinal cords confined to wheelchairs and excluded from active life. Instead it is determined to use the enormous advances made in human cellular therapy in the last decade to develop treatments for this debilitating condition.

Noela Vallis is the visionary behind the New Zealand Spinal Cord Society. Noela’s husband suffered a jet-boating accident in 1984 incapacitating him with paraplegia. It became a vision for Noela that she would raise donated capital to assist people with spinal injuries by supporting effective research towards the goal of a cure for spinal cord injury. The longer-term goal was to establish a research laboratory in New Zealand, translate research into clinical treatments, thus ensuring that New Zealanders would benefit directly from the money raised. 

A generous donation from a Waikato company and additional funding for scientific equipment enabled SCSNZ to achieve the first major goal of establishing a new, state-of-the-art facility located at the Centre for Innovation in Dunedin. The laboratory is well situated on the Otago University campus with access to the Medical library, Dunedin Hospital, and other important resources. Through this laboratory innovative strategies for spinal cord repair will be developed and prepared for use in New Zealand.

Sadly, Keith passed away only months after the research facility was operational. It was, and still is, Noela’s vision to find a treatment for those with spinal injuries by raising donated capital to further research toward this goal in NZ.

The Society is determined to move from the realm of dreams to scientific reality and for this to occur in the near future, and, importantly, in New Zealand.

Our research will have far-reaching positive implications for thousands of people affected by spinal cord injury. This includes not only those with a spinal cord injury, but also their caregivers, family and friends. 

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