In 2005 I suffered a spinal cord injury in a motorcycling accident, which resulted permanent paraplegia. In the decade or so since, I’ve seen little in the way of medical research that offered any hope for recovery within my lifetime. That is, until now.

Project Edge is a collaboration between the University of Technology, Sydney and Spinal Cure Australia to fund the first clinical trial outside of the US of ground-breaking research by Professor Reggie Edgerton and his colleagues at UCLA. In a world first, they have managed to re-awaken the spinal cord and successfully restore feeling and function to over 20 paralysed people using neurostimulation.

I can’t begin to express what kind of a difference just a small improvement in function would mean to the life of a person suffering from paralysis. What it would mean to my life, and the lives of all of the people I’ve met during this challenging journey.

Project Edge is going to deliver this improvement to our lives. It’s not an “if” but a “when”. But like all such projects, they require funding, and a lot of it.

I plan to swim the 5km Cole Classic in order to help raise some of these much needed funds. Given my paralysis, I am unable to kick, in fact two thirds of my body is a dead weight in the water, so I’ll be swimming with just my arms and a lot of drag. I’m currently swimming 2.5km several times a week, and this distance needs to increase considerably over the coming months. I am hoping that your kind and generous donations will help to motivate me to continue and increase this training regimen.

Thank you very much in advance for your support. You will be changing lives.

Read more about Project Edge:  www.projectedge.org.au