VIDEO:
HOST: Every day, 29-year-old Kurt Drysdale dreams of walking again. Just before his 21st birthday, a footy injury left him paralyzed from the neck down.
KURT: I guess, you know, I was quite scared, and I was confused and sort of unsure what the future would hold for me.
HOST: He needs a respirator to breathe. It's the little things Kurt wishes he could do again.
KURT: Brushing your teeth, you know, picking up a cup, scratching my eyes.
HOST: But Kurt's not one to give up. Six weeks after the accident, he made a decision.
KURT'S MOTHER: Told me he was gonna breath on his own again. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. I can't fix this.
HOST: A cure would mean the world.
KURT'S FATHER: Ohhh everything. You know, we dream of it every day.
HOST: That's where the work of the Perry Cross Foundation is hoping to make a difference. Perry himself is paralyzed. Now his foundation is working closely with researchers from Griffith University who could be on the verge of something big.
PERRY: And now we think we have something that we can take to human trials. I'm very confident we can help repair the damage to the spinal cord.
HOST: This world-first treatment begins with three months of preparation. Then in surgery, stem cells will be taken from the patient's nose. Those cells will be formulated into three-dimensional nerve bridges which are then transplanted back into the injury site, allowing the cells to regenerate. Eighteen months ago, researchers and Perry did their sums and knew then they'd need eight and a half million dollars to make this human trial a reality.
PERRY: We've been able to raise $8 million.
HOST: Two million of that is funded by the state government, the rest from the community.
PERRY: And we're only half a million short.
KURT: Once that's all come up, this all there, we can, you know, get the ball rolling.
KURT'S FATHER: Definitely. A lot of positive stuff they're doing there, and it could be a real game changer.
HOST: Optimistic, a cure isn't far away.
PERRY: There's a very big clear green donate button on our website that people can get involved with.
HOST: To give hope for so many, like Kurt. You are an inspiration, Kurt.
KURT: Thank you.
We are on the cusp of finding a treatment for Spinal Cord Injuries. We have never been closer. Together, we have raised $8M to commence our world-first human clinical trial and today we are only $500,000 away from our final goal.
Thank you 7NEWS Australia for coming out and meeting our ambassador Kurt and his family, along with our founder Perry Cross AM, to talk about how our foundation is working with Griffith University to find a cure for Spinal Cord Injuries.
Every donation counts. Please contribute to help us start our human clinical trial for 15 people living with paralysis later this year. All donations above $2 are tax-deductible.
#sci #cure #paralysis #humanclinicaltrials #donate
Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research
