Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP)

Which bill? H.R.1968 - Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 Which program? The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) Still time? We must urge lawmakers to reinstate the full CDMRP funding. This can happen through a legislative "vehicle", such as an amendment or bill. Get involved: follow U2FP's social media accounts. Sign up for our newsletter at www.u2fp.org #spinalcordinjuryresearch #u2fp #science #scisurvivors #CDMRP #SCIRP #fundresearch #warfighter #119thcongress #advocate

$40 million for SCI Research gone! I'm guessing lots of folks don't know that the Defense Dept. has...or I should say had a $1.5 Billion medical research program (CDMRP) that was very effective because it included people living with the conditions that research was seeking to treat or cure. Well in the little corner of that space that we work in is the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP)...that our organization has had a very good relationship with over the last years...has been ZEROED OUT. $40 million of SCl research is off the table. Well, for those wondering what the Congressional Budget and the Trump Administration might do or not do for Spinal Cord Injury Research and medical research (all manner of other disease groups like MS, Epilepsy, TBI and many more...) more broadly, they cut $850 million worth of medical research for this year, here's your answer. We have already invited most of the large SCI advocacy organizations to meet together and strategize on how to fight back. For those of you who follow unite 2 fight paralysis, stay tuned 'cause we're gonna need you to speak up and fight back....and yes, I know. This is one little corner in the ring of this big fight. If you haven't already, please sign up for our newsletter at u2fp.org so you can find out how you can help fight these cuts. We're gonna need you.

Save the Date: Fundraising Gala & Silent Auction - April 26! The Bird’s Nest Cafe in Estes Park, CO is hosting a Fundraising Gala and Silent Auction to benefit Unite 2 Fight Paralysis! Money raised from ticket sales and auction items goes directly to Unite 2 Fight Paralysis’ work to accelerate treatments and functional recovery research for folks living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). Many people who aren’t injured don’t realize all the secondary complications that abound with this injury - neuropathic pain (think hot needles stabbing you without warning throughout your day), urinary tract infections, pressure sores, and the body’s inability to regulate your blood pressure - just to name a few of them. Many of these can become life threatening (think sepsis from UTIs because you don’t catch it quickly because...you have to use catheters!) You have to have a bowel program that can take an hour or longer. And the icing on the cake: reduced or lost sexual pleasure and/or function. Fun! And then, yeah, we want to walk again too. Why can’t we do both? I want to get the smaller gains on the way to the big win. We shouldn’t negate the ‘little’ things just because the ultimate goal is to get us up walking and running like our pre-injured selves. Unite 2 Fight Paralysis takes all this seriously because the majority of our staff and board live with the injury or are a family/caregiver to someone with the injury. We think people with an SCI should be at the center of the treatment and research process so that we fix this shit fast and correctly. And our small but smart grassroots effort is having a huge return on investment for me and my community. Reserve your spot email: [email protected] #sciresearch #sciawareness #scifundraising #jointhefight #scirecovery

Consider joining Team U2FP this year for the 2025 Twin Cities Marathon or 10-Mile race - registration is now open! You’ll get guaranteed entry into a world-class marathon and be helping folks with spinal cord injuries advocate for functional recovery. This year’s events are scheduled for Sunday, October 5, 2025, starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Whether you are a regular marathoner or distance athlete, or a newly interested runner or wheeler, Team U2FP will support you every step of the way. Plus, you’ll be participating in the first marathon in the United States to allow the use of e-assist handcrank wheelchairs - a pioneering achievement! (Click here for the full backstory). Here’s how it works: 1. Register to participate with Team U2FP and start training for your race. 2. Share your training progress 3. Ask your friends and family to donate to your race efforts 4.Every dollar raised supports U2FP’s work for functional recovery Your fundraising efforts are particularly important for our Cure Advocacy Network, which trains and mobilizes the SCI Community to advocate for legislation that funds functional recovery research in their states. We’ve passed bills in four states totalling almost $40M so far - with over 200 individuals with SCI having recovered meaningful function as a result! And we’re on the verge of passing another $5M SCI Research Grant bill in Wisconsin - your support could make the difference! Email: [email protected] #twincitiesmarathon #teamu2fp #scirecovery #sciresearch #10milerace

We’ve been looking forward to our 20th Annual Science and Advocacy Symposium for a long time. It is a moment to mark the birth of Unite 2 Fight Paralysis as an organization, and the beginning of a new wave of involvement and advocacy for curative therapies led by the SCI community. If you haven’t, you should read our origin story detailing the six women who founded and led this transformative organization. In the spring of 2005, these visionary individuals organized the first Rally in Washington on behalf of the spinal cord injury community. Commemorating this milestone is important. It is a chance to celebrate how far we’ve come and how far we’ve yet to go. This important gathering will allow us to chart a smart, strategic path for the future. We’ll be coming back to Washington D.C, where it all started 20 years ago, and we won’t be wasting any time. The return to our nation’s Capital (specifically, Crystal City, Virginia - just 15 minutes from US Congressional offices) will be the catalyst to launch our Cure Advocacy Network’s national legislative campaign! That’s right, we plan to add a third day to our gathering so attendees can join us in visiting key lawmakers on Capitol Hill. This day of advocacy will launch U2FP’s campaign to prioritize a national strategy for SCI research. We’ll be providing more details, resources and training for those who choose to participate ahead of our conference. #symposium #sciencesymposium #spincordinjuryresearch #spinalcorndinjury #washingtondc

We recently interviewed Jason Biundo, a lived-experience graduate student at Harvard Medical School. We begin our conversation exploring how Jason’s injury influenced his educational trajectory and priorities. We then move to his current work on community integration in research and his efforts to improve gait assessment modeling in mice. There is also a fun discussion about the “rambunctious” (Jason’s words) energy that seemed to be present at this past year’s symposium in Atlanta and his thoughts on what to attribute that to. Link: https://lnkd.in/e5b5HF84 #spinalcordresearch #scieducation #livedexperience #harvard #spinalcordinjury

Join us next Friday, March 7 at Dual Citizen Brewery in St. Paul, MN to kickoff registration for Team U2FP in the 2025 Twin Cities Marathon or 10-Mile races (happening October 5, 2025). Bring your family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers - anyone can join us for the kick-off event, whether you’re considering racing or not. Those who do sign up to race with Team U2FP in the 2025 Twin Cities Marathon or 10-mile race will get two free beers (or other beverages of choice) and an Adidas Terrex hat! #twincitiesmarathon #sciathletes #sciresearch #scirecovery #scirehabilitation

We’re talking with Dr. Jacob Goldsmith about the interesting relationship between Testosterone and Spinal Cord Injury. We discuss the role of Testosterone in humans, why the presence of this critical hormone may subside after spinal cord injury, and how it might be linked to motor function recovery after SCI. Jacob is a research scientist at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Link: https://lnkd.in/g2dFKfup #spinalcordinjury #spinalcordresearch #sci #paralysis #testosterone

Our $5M SCI Research Grant bill is being introduced this week in the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate by our legislative champions, Representative Paul Tittl and Senator Van Wanggaard! We have a 10-day window to get as many legislators to co-sponsor our bill as possible - here’s what you can do to help us: - If you live in Wisconsin please call or email your legislators and ask them to become co-sponsors of our SCI Research Grant bill! (Link for Wisconsin residents to find out who represents them in bio) - If you have family or friends living in Wisconsin, and ask them to call or email their state legislators to co-sponsor our bill. Feel free to use this simple script as a template for your call or email. It will take less than five minutes: Dear Senator/Representative [first name/last name], My name is ____ ______, and I [have a spinal cord injury / am family/friend of someone with a spinal cord injury]. Please co-sponsor our Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research Grant bill that is being introduced in the Assembly and Senate this week. Give us a chance to profoundly and positively affect the lives of people in Wisconsin living with SCI. The SCI community is counting on you - thank you in advance! Link: https://lnkd.in/gb3afTw6 #wisconsin #scibill #disabilityadvocacy #advocaymatters #sciresearch

Take a listen to this fantastic podcast episode on Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP) CureCast - episode 114 - 'On The Nose' In this episode we hear Professor James St John from Griffith University discuss the upcoming clinical trial, why this work is important and why NOW is the right time to do it.?? Click the link to hear the episode: https://lnkd.in/ewWjkAGM