In late-August, Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law the Massachusetts Spinal Cord Injury Trust Bill, a bill expected ultimately to raise upwards of $1.5 million in funds generated by people who lose their driver''s licenses for the third time. In order to regain their license, they will pay a $50 surcharge with $25 earmarked for this trust.
The trust will then use the money to fund ongoing research aimed at finding both ways to improve the quality of life for people living with spinal-cord injuries as well as potential cures for paralysis.
On hand for a formal presentation last week was Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, who was instrumental in getting the bill passed through both the House and Senate as well as ensuring Romney would sign it into law.
"The research will bring a general improvement in our lives with any new technology it can develop," McKinnon-Tucker said. "It may not mean a full cure at this stage, but I can look out a decade and see the benefit of it."
Massachusetts is the 10h state to pass such a bill.
McKinnon-Tucker is a member of the Greater Boston chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, was once its program coordinator and volunteers to meet with those recently injured. Getting the bill passed was the second of a three-phase project, she said.
The first phase also took place last week, with September being named Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month. The third phase, which she expects to be the most difficult, hopes to make stem-cell research legal in Massachusetts.
McKinnon-Tucker said that getting the bill passed took several months of work: making monthly, sometimes bimonthly, trips to the State House, meeting with different committees, knocking on doors to raise spinal-cord injury awareness, and a lot of support rallying. She credits Rep. Doug Petersen''s office with helping the group know what it needed to do to get the bill passed.
"We were extremely pleased when [Romney] signed it," she said.
Once it had passed both houses of the Legislature, Romney had 10 days in which to sign or kill the bill. She asked friends to phone Romney''s office. Within a day, his voice mail was full, she said, and people began e-mailing him, urging him to sign it into law.
"It''s really good, during one year''s session, to go from start to finish," she said, adding, "especially for political-system ''newbies.''"
They are not as new at this as McKinnon-Tucker suggests, however. Last year, the SCI attempted to get the stem-cell research ban lifted, but the bill never left the Ethics Committee, McKinnon-Tucker said. There is always next year, though. Already, she is looking ahead to what can next be done.
She admits to also being instrumental in creating the "Gimpy Girl Brunch," a time when females living with spinal-cord injuries come together and share their stories and their ideas for living better lives, forming a network of friends who know about each other.
"It''s not so much a support group as it is a time to be social with each other and educate and learn from each other," McKinnon-Tucker said.
Last Wednesday, with the bill officially signed, McKinnon-Tucker and others advocating the bill, celebrated. There were hugs, she said, handshakes and reaffirmation that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
"I left with a very satisfied feeling that a little bit of advocacy goes a long way," she said. "I fully expected that we''d get it just so far and have to go back again next year. I thought it would fall flat, but it didn''t. That is just really amazing''.