I just wanted to throw out a quick public congratulations to Marc Buoniconti for being on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week, which I think marks the first time that a quadriplegic has ever done so. Marc was the subject of a well-written feature article, which you can read here. In short, Marc became paralyzed playing in a football game for The Citadel 24 years ago. Since then he has become the president of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the The Buoniconti Fund. Collectively they have done amazing things to advance the awareness of spinal cord injuries, and have also raised tens of millions of dollars of donations specifically geared towards funding the research and development of medical breakthroughs to find a cure for paralysis.
According to their July 2009 newsletter, "It is no small feat that in 24 years, the scientific and medical community has revolutionized the way people are being treated today. People who are paralyzed are living longer lives with a significant improvement to their quality of life. New therapies that target acute and chronic spinal cord injuries are being developed and are at the FDA’s doorstep waiting for the approval to begin Human Clinical Trials."
I have been wearing a Miami Project 'Cure Paralysis' rubber bracelet (a la the Lance Armstrong 'Live Strong' ilk) since around December 2003. In fact, I haven't taken it off once since then. The middle part of the ‘R’ in the word ‘paralysis’ has recently chipped away, and although I have a bag of up to ten replacements I figure I'll just keep wearing this one until it breaks off my wrist. It's a constant reminder of both past adventures/accomplishments and future outlooks, and hopefully it has brought some SCI awareness to others over the last five plus years that have seen it on me.
So Congrats again, Marc.
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