And now, the KringleQuest Team brings you this message from Matthew Reeve:

When someone sustains a spinal cord injury, it's not just their lives that are dramatically altered in an instant; their family's lives are changed forever, too. My father broke his neck in an equestrian accident on May 27th, 1995, rendering him a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic, which he remained until his death in October of 2004. Through that time, even though it was not us in that wheelchair, as a family, we lived that injury with him, witnessing firsthand the daily struggle to live as "normal" a life as possible.

In early 2009, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation released the results of the largest, most comprehensive survey of America's paralyzed community ever conducted, and the data it produced were shocking:

The number of people living with paralysis is far higher than anyone had previously imagined. There are more than 5.6 million people in this country who live with some form or another of paralysis, with 1.275 million paralyzed as a direct result of a spinal cord injury. That's about one in 50 Americans. This means that we all know someone --- a friend, a brother, a sister, a neighbor, a parent, a colleague --- living with paralysis. They're not strangers. They are just one degree of separation from each and every one of us.

But their lives are so dramatically different. Because they must live with a condition that affects not just their family life, but their ability to work and their capacity to enjoy even the most routine everyday activities.

Additionally, they bear the financial burden of having to live with a spinal cord injury, with yearly care costing up to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. We were particularly fortunate in that my father could afford nurses and various other medical necessities beyond what his original insurance policy covered. But there are some 25% of those who live with a spinal cord injury who have an annual household income of less than $10,000, and simply cannot.

Consequently, they suffer from inadequate health care, and lack access to rehabilitative exercise equipment, both of which can result in further deteriorations in terms of their health, as well as further increases in costs.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation wants to change all that. We fund the most cutting-edge research to find that cure for spinal cord injury, while simultaneously funding programs across the nation that seek to improve the quality of life for those millions living with paralysis.

KringleQuest.com, v.5 is a proud supporter of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. For additional information, including current status regarding the Born for Broadway Musical Revue at the Merkin Concert Hall, please visit ChristopherReeve.org, BornForBroadway.com or Facebook.com/BornForBroadway.