New York Marathon mission for athletes seeking a cure for spinal cord injury

Dave Pretorius and his sister Lisa Spears had to share a pair of crutches to walk the New Zealand Marathon. Photo/Supplied

A team of Kiwi runners has returned from the Big Apple after a successful fundraising mission to help seek a cure for spinal cord injury.

The group of 20 called Team CatWalk represented the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research Trust at the New York Marathon.

The trust funds medical research by the Spinal Cord Injury Research Facility (SCIF), based at the University of Auckland's Centre for Brain Research.

Project manager for the Catwalk Trust Deb Haworth said the research was vital to finding a cure for spinal cord injury, which was one of the most costliest injuries handled by ACC.

"We are blessed in this country with fantastic medical and financial support, but the success of our research will have global implications and will be beneficial to all sufferers especially those who struggle in poor countries with little or no help at all.

She said centring fundraising efforts around the the New York marathon made a great campaign.

"We raised over $175,000.00 for research into spinal cord injury from supportive Kiwis nationwide.

Athletes Dave Pretorius and his sister, Lisa Spears, both suffered stress fractures - though in opposite legs - and were forced to give up on their ambitions to run the marathon.

"Instead, in spite of advice to the contrary, they shared a pair of crutches and walked the entire marathon in 7hr 41," Haworth said.

"We were lucky to have several members of our team wearing catsuits sponsored by Icebreaker and Insurance and lending group."

David Pretorius, deputy chairman of Catwalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust, has daughter Holly, 13, with a severe spinal cord injury following a car accident.

He has made it his personal quest to run until Holly can walk again.

"My true inspiration, at the halfway point of a marathon, creeping into the mind-numbing 34km and 36km, is to imagine Holly, and her big sister Alex, running with me, in the New York marathon.

"For me there is no finish line until SCI is cured," Pretoriu said.

Research leader Dr Simon O' Carroll said the money raised was invaluable.

"The funds from the CatWalk Trust allow us to attract some of the best and most enthusiastic young researchers in New Zealand to work on SCI, and in this facility we are making some ground-breaking improvements into developing cures for SCI."

O'Carroll said the centre's work focused on developing methods to prevent further damage after injury and for nerve cells to reconnect to get people back on their feet.

General Manager of Attitude Television and Paralympic Gold medallist in wheelchair rugby, Daniel Buckingham, believed he also made a difference by going to New York.

"I am raising money for a cause that some would say devalues people who live with disability - it is a fine line to tread."

Buckingham said fixing a broken leg was "chalk and cheese" compared to healing spinal cord injury but the aim was essentially the same.

"If we cut to the chase, I broke my neck, and the researchers funded by the CatWalk Trust are trying to find a way to fix it."

The SCIF believed it was close to delivering finding the cure for spinal cord injury.