Paralyzed From the Chest Down, Man Bikes 500 Miles For Stem Cell Research

One week after graduating from high school Luis Gonzalez-Bunster suffered a terrible car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

Now fifteen years later Luis remains in a wheelchair, but is more hopeful than ever for a cure.

Thanks to exciting new clinical trials and the recent approval of federal funding for stem cell research, many in the medical community believe, like Luis, that it is now no longer a question of if, but when they'll find a cure for paralysis.

"Stem cells have always been our best hope," says Luis. "After Obama's first bill as president called for funding we have even more reason to be hopeful about their potential."

Starting August 1st, Luis will begin a 28-day, 800km marathon along the historic Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail from France to Spain to raise money and awareness about spinal cord injuries.

In preparation he has been swimming laps and hand cycling at least 15km every day, mostly up hills, on his Freedom Rider.

As his journey begins so does the world's first-ever clinical trial using stem cells in humans to repair spinal cord damage.

"This marks the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics -- one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration of organ and tissue function achieved by the injection of healthy replacement cells," explained Dr. Thomas Okarma, CEO of biotech company Geron, in a statement after receiving F.D.A. clearance earlier this year.

The study, run by Geron, will use a "conservative, low dose treatment" of cells on 10 newly injured patients (one to two weeks after the injury) at participating hospitals around America.

"The ultimate goal [for the trial] is to achieve restoration of spinal cord function by the injection of hESC-derived (human embryonic stem cells) oligodendrocyte progenitor cells directly into the lesion site of the patient's injured spinal cord."

"If all goes well, researchers will have taken a promising step toward a goal that once would have been considered a miracle -- to help the lame walk," explains Anne Underwood in Newsweek.

As far back as 2004 a similar treatment tested on paralyzed rats enabled them to walk again, albeit with some difficulty.

Helping fund this type of groundbreaking research is just one of Luis' goals. He, along with his younger sister Carolina, 26, are undertaking the "Camino" to inaugurate the Walkabout Foundation.

Last year Carolina got the idea for Walkabout after Luis was denied access to the Greenwich YMCA swimming pool. Although the newly built $36 million Olympic-size pool was wheelchair accessible, the YMCA building itself was not.

This past spring a Connecticut Superior court denied their legal appeal to get the YMCA to install a temporary handicap ramp. The Greenwich YMCA then said they would install a permanent one by June 2009. Today there is still no ramp.

"We decided we needed to take a stand, spread the word and build awareness," explains Carolina. "It is a blatant violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Carolina and Luis decided to make their mission global. The Walkabout Foundation, aptly named for its missions "to get people back on their two feet" and "cure paralysis one step at a time," has multiple aims.

At first, money raised by Walkabout will go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, who help identify and support promising research worldwide. In addition Carolina is partnering with hospitals in the United States to help bring new modern wheelchairs to poor parts of the world.

"It's incredibly exciting and inspirational," Luis says about the upcoming marathon. "Setting goals for yourself is important, it pushes you and motivates you to get out there and exercise every day, even the days you don't have energy. The walk is giving me a purpose. Life is all about having a purpose."

For more information visit TheWalkaboutFoundation.org.

Comments

[Monique Knowlton]

i love olivia sterns' thoughtful comments
she is extraordinarily well informed,helpful in her choices of subjects.
She is devoted to humanistic causes,choosing always to imply a way to better life for
those who are victims.Womens rights and economics in the Middle East and South East
Asia are a priority.She travels worldwide to gain first hand knowledge
she writes about her trips with a dry humor
her piece about the boy who is paralyzed from the waist down and is hoping for stem cell
therapy to cure his paralysis is very touching
My family, fStephane Yulita foundation, through the New York Community Trust,
will contribute $ 1000.
thank you olivia for making his story public
keep up the good work
Monique Knowlton'

[cordbloodreviews]

Its great to see someone make such an effort to further enlighten people about the benefits of stem cells
http://cordbloodreviews.wordpress.com