US researcher hopeful for spinal injury cure
PM - Tuesday, January 28, 2003 18:25
MARK COLVIN: In Sydney today, though, a better news story, another in the growing tide of voices speaking of hope on the horizon for people with spinal cord injury, many of them confined to wheelchairs by car accidents.
A leading researcher from the United States said today that finding a cure was not a matter of if, but when.
Dr Wise Young is one of the scientists who's been closely associated with the improvements achieved by Hollywood actor Christopher Reeve
Mr Reeve is the star guest at the spinal cord injury forum organised by the NSW Government.
Peta Donald went to the spinal cord injury forum today, and filed this report for PM.
PETA DONALD: Ten years ago Joanna Knott was paralysed from the chest down in a skiing accident. Back then, there wasn't much hope for a recovery. She says now, that's changing.
JOANNA KNOTT: It's probably going to be a step by step process, I don't think it will be one major treatment overnight, is the message that I'm getting from the researchers, and that's okay, if I can get some improvements, if I can start to use my hands, that will be great.
Um, but my ultimate goal is to walk again, and I believe it's possible and I believe that the 18,000 Australians will, hopefully many of them will have the chance to walk gain.
PETA DONALD: Joanna Knott is the director of the Australasian Spinal Research Trust.
One of the neuroscientists driving here sense of hope is Professor Wise Young, from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
WISE YOUNG: The vast majority of neuroscientists believe that it's not a matter of if we will have a cure, it's a matter of when, and we know that the question of when depends on how hard we work, and the resources we invest in a problem.
We know this is a solvable problem, and if we invest in spinal cord injury research, like we have in AIDS, we can get the therapy in three years. If we invest at our current level, it may take 20 years.
So this is not a scientific issue, this is an economic and social issue.
PETA DONALD: Not surprisingly, Professor Young is frustrated with the Australian Government's three-year ban on research using certain kinds of stem cells.
WISE YOUNG: The ethical debate does not help. One of the things you do not want to do is to drive your best scientists out of Australia.
I think the concept of arbitrarily limiting the fields, in fact one of the most promising fields of research for the neuroscientist, will drive scientists out of Australia.
PETA DONALD: Some Australian scientists say a lack of funding is as much f a problem as the limitations on research. To that end, the NSW Government today announced a 36 million dollar package for research, and to improve disability services.
It was welcome news to Bryce Vissel, a senior researcher from the Garvan Institute.
BRYCE VISSEL: I think it's going to make a real possibility where there wasn't necessarily a strong one. I mean, scientists in Australia do struggle with funding. It's not that sometimes we're worried about talking about it, because it sounds like we're whining, but the fact is it is extremely difficult if you can't foresee a future, you don't know if you're going to have funding in three years time, you don't know if you've got enough to do the research.
We've got the ideas, we've got the technologies, we've got the potential, we've got leadership, we've got people here who are really innovative in this typical Australian style, and so now, with some funding, we can really start to think about applying these new techniques and technologies, and get it going for the benefit of people with injury in Australia.
PETA DONALD: Sam Bailey is a farmer and grazier from Copper Creek, in northern New South Wales, confined to a wheelchair by a car accident. He's not pinning all his hopes on a cure.
SAM BAILEY: Yeah, I value life the way it is, and this is how it is for me now, and if a day comes along where it does happen, great, but I don't live my life to be focussed on having to walk. I live my life for what it is, and I've got a great girl, and we're hoping to have a family and…
But I've got an enormous amount of inspiration out of coming here. One of the things when you live in the country, you tend to think you might be a little bit isolated from what's happening, and Jenny and I have come down here, and we've just been so inspired.
MARK COLVIN: Sam Bailey, a farmer and grazier from northern New South Wales, at today's Spinal Cord Forum in Sydney. Peta Donald was our reporter there.
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