Stoke Mandeville played such a big part in my families lives in the 80's ... Support and care that my brother Mark received and the support that we as a family received , got us through one of the hardest times that any family could go through  . Through this charity many years on they are still striving to help overcome the everyday issues and situations that patients and families like us come up against . Paralysis is a fact of life for the 40,000 people living with spinal cord injury, and it can happen to anyone. For the majority of people, being unable to walk is just another challenge to add to the many other difficulties they face on a daily basis. Pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections and pain are all a daily threat to quality of life, making it hard to 'get on with life'. SMSR is tackling these day to day challenges through research to ensure that individual's with spinal cord injury have the best quality of life possible.