Founded in 1995, the Japan Spinal Cord Foundation (provisional, since members are still raising the money necessary to legalize the foundation) has just achieved a major breakthrough. For months, members had been trying to make contact with an established similar organization, the American Paralysis Association, based in New Jersey and headed by actor Christopher Reeve.
Reeve, you may remember, was thrown from his horse several years ago and rendered quadriplegic, meaning his spinal cord is so badly damaged that he has little to no control over his body from the neck down, and is unable to use any of his limbs.
"We'd been phoning, faxing and e-mailing APA with no success. Then just a few days ago we had an initial response," said JSCF(P) international relations chief coordinator Tamio Hirose at a recent monthly meeting of the organization in Ikegami, Ota Ward, Tokyo.