Thanking Jeff Klein for spinal cord research support

To the editor:

State Sen. Jeff Klein and the other senators and members of the Assembly deserve praise and thanks for reinstating much of the original support for the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) this budget year with a very significant increase in funding. 

This is a very personal issue to me, since my son has a spinal cord injury as a result of an automobile accident in 2008.   

I hope that the $7 million in funding to SCIRP will result in life-changing advances for so many people suffering from spinal cord injuries.  

There are so many millions of things that my son cannot do because of his injury. This program will produce advances in medicine and renewed hope for a brighter future. (Cory, my son, attended SAR Academy and graduated from SAR High School in 2012.)

The people involved with SCIRP are a smart and motivated group. Surely the research that will be funded and the scientific advances it will produce will reaffirm the decision for the funding. Please, visit newyorkerstocureparalysis.org to learn more.

New York has been my home for 50-plus years. I currently work at SAR as the Director of Development. I have always been proud to be a New Yorker—we have the best community and friends. Now I am truly grateful for those representatives, such as Mr. Klein, who represents us in Albany. 

They live out our values and deepest beliefs for the future. They realize not only what we need to live in a better New York today, but invest in a better New York and country for the future. This is no easy undertaking.

Heidi Greenbaum