Rick Hansen continued to set the bar for progress by announcing the launch of an international institute on spinal cord injury research on the 25th anniversary of the first day of the Man In Motion tour.
The Rick Hansen Institute will connect research centres around the world, through a database, to collaborate on best practices for treatment, create a common language among clinicians, and commence clinical trials when new discoveries are made in the laboratory.
“We’ll have thousands of patients all from this global network ready to be applied to these clinical trials, to be able to accelerate the discovery,” Hansen told media Sunday. “We’ll be able to move closer and closer to the cure.”
Hansen started down the road to discovery at the Oakridge Centre a quarter-century ago and over would go on wheel across 34 countries, covering 40,000 kilometres raising $26 million in a span of more than two years.
Since then the Rick Hansen Foundation has raised more than $200 million for spinal cord research and Hansen was integral to opening the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre for spinal cord research in 2008.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged $13.5 million in federal spending over three years to the Rick Hansen Foundation while the province committed $25 million over seven years through various ministries.
Premier Gordon Campbell was on hand as Vancouver’s mayor when Hansen launched the Man In Motion tour.
“Whatever you can do or dream you can do begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it,” Campbell said then and again at the launch. “We sit here and stand here today 25 years away from when that was first lodged in my head.
“I can tell you Rick you and all your team have created an incredible magic around the world.”