Supporting StepAhead

StepAhead is committed to taking research from concept to cure. We will transform the landscape of spinal cord injury research and, in doing so, we will transform the lives of the many thousands of people who suffer the debilitating effects of paralysis every day, to do this we need your help.

FROM CONCEPT TO CURE – WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT FOR A KEY AUSTRALIAN TRIAL

One of the greatest motivators for many of our supporters comes through desperately wanting to help those they love transform their lives and recover from spinal cord injury. For StepAhead Director and Treasurer, Barbara Owen and her husband, Dr George Owen, an orthopaedic surgeon, it couldn’t be any more personal. Their motivation, their passion, and their contribution to StepAhead is an unwavering commitment to convince the medical community that spinal cord injury should be viewed as a curable disease. Their ultimate goal is to reverse the quadriplegia suffered by their son, Sam, as a result of a diving accident. Right around Australia, in each and every suburb and community, there are families just like the Owens who are desperately hoping for exactly the same thing.

We need to raise $5 million to support our ongoing international collaborative research to achieve functional reconstruction of an injured spinal cord and translate research results into therapies.

Dr Stephen Livesey and Kathy Traianedes of St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne are developing an incredible bridging technique to overcome spinal cord injury. Other researchers from around the world have agreed to work with us to achieve our goal. A good example is Dr Stephen Davies at the University of Colorado, who has developed a method to defeat scarring after injury and to promote recovery of function even in those with chronic spinal cord injury.

Our Scientific Program Director, Dr Brent Reynolds, is also the Director of the Adult Stem Cell Engineering and Therapeutic Core of the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida. His colleague, Angelo Vescovi, co-director of the Stem Cell Research Institute in Milan, has already established a facility for growing large numbers of cells suitable for clinical applications. Dr Reynolds intends to conduct clinical trials here in Australia, bringing us ever closer to finding a cure – but we need your help!

Every little bit helps – it is only through your support that, together, we will achieve our goal. Please help us step ahead to a time when spinal cord repair will be a reality: 

Make your donation securely via credit card
Download our Donation Form

Here’s where you come in.

We need your help
to speed things along.

We need your support to continue to connect the world’s leading researchers and clinicians with spinal cord patients and their families to remove the barriers and find a solution today and not tomorrow.

That’s the
StepAhead Australia
challenge to you.