Taylor Peet would love nothing more than prepare a meal for his own feet.
It is an objective for which the motocross rider has been working since he suffered a column injury while driving free -style ramps more than a year ago.
“The small worldly jobs, such as, I can’t wait to make a standing meal or put the washing on the line,” said the 33 -year -old man.
Taylor Peet says that up to three hours of rehabilitation daily. (Supplied: Taylor Peet)
“For someone who is paralyzed, it’s much more difficult, morning routine can take up to two hours.
“Obviously, I only had my injury a year ago, so everything is fresh in my mind, everything I used to give for granted.”
Mrs. Peet is one of the 20,000 estimated Australians living with a spinal cord injury.
Taylor Peet before his column injury. (Supplied: Taylor Peet)
It is also among those who can request to be part of a medical trial that aims to help repair the damage of the spinal cord.
Applications open today for an essay from the Griffith University that intends to use cells from paralyzed patients and transplant them to their spinal cord, with the aim of encouraging them to regenerate and grow over the lesion.
Thirty people will be selected to participate in the program, which includes more than 12 months of rehabilitation.
The trial will mainly evaluate if the therapy is safe.
But Mrs. Peet said she was excited to be able to run.
“They have been working on this for so long, and could change everything for spinal cord injuries,” he said.
“It is something we suffer every day, it is not what we should have to deal with, it is very difficult for all of us.
“It’s so unfair that there is no cure for that.”
Only the starting line
For Perry Cross, the trial has taken a long time to arrive.
I expected the applicants to show the demand for the investigation.
Perry Cross broke his neck in a rugby accident at the age of 19.Supplied: Perry Cross)
“Without the person affected by the situation that advocates the situation, it really falls into deaf ears,” said Cross, whose base is among several organizations that finance the investigation.
“This technology was discussed when I was injured in the 1990s, well, that’s a long time ago.
“Only now we are reaching the starting line. I think that is the important thing for everyone to understand.”
Cross said it was optimistic about research, but there were limitations.
“It will not be a miraculous recovery, it will take time,” he said.
The branched nerve bridges are made of nose cells before being transplanted. (ABC: Michael Lloyd)
But he said that small changes through new therapies could lead to great improvements in the quality of life.
“It’s huge, because I’m basically 95 percent paralyzed, I can only feel the surface of my face and move my head voluntarily,” Cross said.
“I have to make a fan breathe for me, so just to be able to breathe on my own, to be able to feel my body again, move a finger in my arm … They are huge achievements for me.
“For other people, which are possibly paraplegic, they could move a leg or a foot.”
‘Rehabilitation goes with her’
Professor James St John leads the blind and random control essay at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
He said that the first phase was mainly on security and would take between three and four years before larger trials.
James St John says that $ 25 million have been required in funds to reach this point. (ABC: Michael Lloyd)
“We are still going to be at least eight to ten years before the clinic enters somewhere as a routine therapy,” said Professor St John.
He said the trial was looking for a wide range of patients living in Australia and have a chronic spinal cord lesion of the fifth cervical vertebra.
Professor St John said he had taken $ 25 million in funds to progress so far and the clinical trial is expected to cost another $ 15 million.
He said the treatment was not only the transplant, but the rehabilitation that accompanies him.
“The body takes time to recognize those connections and that requires long -term rehabilitation”,
Said Professor St John.
Outside the trial, Mrs. Peet said she spent two or three hours in rehabilitation every day because it was important for recovery.
“Rehabilitation is the number one thing,” he said.
“It’s about trying everything, because what works for a person will not work for another person.”
Taylor Peet’s partner, Corey, got a quadruple bicycle when he left the hospital. (ABC News: Nicholas Mc Elroy, Hannah Ross)
She said she was working every day to recover independence.
“The smallest things, to stand up and look at people at the eye level,” he said.
“You don’t realize how to sit (when) everyone is standing affects you as a person.”
