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21 May 2021 | Comment | Article by Cari Sowden-Taylor

Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day 2021: Wings for Life World Run


Today, on Friday 21 May we are celebrating Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day (SCIAD). This annual event is run by the Spinal Injuries Association, together with charity partners Aspire, Back Up and Spinal Research to raise awareness of spinal cord injury and highlight the challenges SCI people face on a daily basis.

This year’s theme is reflecting on the past year; a year where we experienced a global pandemic, and our world was changed irrevocably.

Our brain injury and spinal cord injury specialist solicitors recently took part in a fundraising event to benefit the funding of scientific research into spinal cord injury. Solicitor, Ellice Harding tells us more about it here;

The Wings for Life World Run took place on 8 May 2021. The premise? To run. And keep running.

The idea of the race is that participants all over the World start running at the same time, no matter where they are or what their local time is. Participants then run as far as they can, until they are caught by the virtual chaser car, at which point they are out.

Solicitor, Ellice Harding

Solicitor, Ellice Harding

Trainee Solicitor, Anu Manda

Trainee Solicitor, Anu Manda
Wings for life world run 2021. This is what we've achieved: 151 countries, 184236 participants, 1656840 kilometres run, 4100000 Euro raised

Whilst large, organised races were not possible this year due to Covid-19 restrictions, the event was still a great success via the app, raising over €4.1million for spinal cord research. Anu Manda and I both took part, along with over 184,000 participants from 151 countries across the globe and together we ran over 20km. Whilst we both set off thinking we were going for a leisurely Sunday jog around the park, we found the support from the app, celebrating every kilometre and urging us to keep going, and the ominous reminders that the chaser car that they were on our tails spurred us on, and were pushed further than we expected. We’ll definitely be taking part again next year, and with the winner of the women’s race running a total of 60.1km, we certainly have something to train and aim for!

Wings for Life is a not-for-profit spinal cord research foundation established by the Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and the two-time motocross world champion Heinz Kinigadner. They fund research and clinical trials aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury. Anu and I work as specialist catastrophic injury solicitors at Hugh James and represent many clients who have sustained spinal cord injuries. Seeing what an impact such an injury has on a person’s life, and on the lives of their family and friends, we are acutely aware of how important Wings for Life’s work is.

If you’d like to sponsor us it’s not too late, and you can do so by clicking on this link. There you’ll also find more information about Wings for Life, and details of the 2022 World Run, so that you can get involved too!

For further information or advice, visit our Spinal Injury page, or contact us today.

Author bio

Cari is a Partner and Joint Head of the National Serious Injury Team, and specialises in representing adult and child claimants who have sustained life changing injuries such as traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, limb loss and polytrauma following road traffic collisions, injuries at work and assaults.

Disclaimer: The information on the Hugh James website is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be treated as such. If you would like to ensure the commentary reflects current legislation, case law or best practice, please contact the blog author.

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