Can You Spare a Few Billion Dollars?
Obviously, a spinal cord injury is a devastating blow. Aside from the physical and emotional trauma, the individual costs to a patient can reach $1.35 million over their lifetime.
What is less obvious is that we are all hurt by the injury. How? Consider the costs. There are currently 1.3 million individuals in the United States living with a spinal cord injury. To that number, an estimated 10,000-14,000 are added each year. When you combine these numbers with the fact that the average age at the time of injury is 30 years old, the annual cost to society is estimated at $8 billion. How about we find a cure for spinal cord injury and put the $8 billion back in our pockets?
My son is 30 yrs old and sustained a spinal cord injury when he was 15 yrs old. He went from hospital to hospital the first 10 months after his accident so those costs were every bit a million dollars. Now throw in the monthly supplies for his care plus the modifications we had to do to our home to acomodate his handicap then add in a life time of caregivers 24-7. Before my husband and I took the night shift of being his caregivers we were paying close to $20,000 a month in caregiver expenses. Add on the various pressure ulcer/wound care costs and surgeries… the cost is astronomical. Yes I think finding a cure would be nice…..
Julie, I know what you have endured and you make great points, we really need to explain to people the financial expense of these injuries!