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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Ryan
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/4/08
HB
SHORT TITLE
"Cody Unser Day"
SM 56
ANALYST Shaya
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Memorial 56 declares that Tuesday, February 5, 2008 be declared "Cody Unser Day" at
the senate in recognition of the good work of this young woman and her sincere and tireless
dedication to the cause of stem cell research; and that Cody's indomitable spirit be celebrated as
the senate marks the day that this outstanding young woman was stricken with transverse
myelitis; and that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the Cody Unser First Step
Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center and its medical consortium and
University of New Mexico Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
No Fiscal Impact
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Senate Memorial 56 notes the following;
•
Cody Unser was stricken suddenly with transverse myelitis, commonly called TM, on
February 5, 1999; and
•
Cody, a basketball-playing sixth-grade girl, became paralyzed from the chest down and
has remained so ever since; and
•
The past nine years have transformed Cody's life, and she has transformed the level of
support, research for and understanding of transverse myelitis and other spinal cord
diseases and injuries; and
•
Cody's reaction to learning to live in a wheelchair was to learn to scuba dive and to create
a charitable foundation to seek a cure for TM; and
•
That foundation is called the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, and it continues to build
awareness of TM, promote medical cooperation and stimulate research; and
•
Cody accepted Governor Richardson's request to serve as his national disabilities
spokeswoman for his recent presidential bid; and
pg_0002
Senate Memorial 56 – Page
2
•
As part of her promotion of funding for research, Cody has successfully helped the
University of New Mexico become a center of excellence, attracting new funding for
New Mexico research on spinal cord injuries and diseases; and
•
The Cody Unser First Step Foundation has formed charitable relationships with the Johns
Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center and its medical consortium affiliates, the
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the Kennedy-Krieger Spine Institute, the Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis, the Barrow Neurological Institute and the Transverse Myelitis
Association and, most recently, New Mexico's Governor's Commission on Disability; and
•
The foundation has awarded over one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to related
research and education endeavors; and
•
Cody is an ambassador for the Quickie Wheelchair events at Sunrise Medical, for Johns
Hopkins' "PROJECT RESTORE" and for many symposia and consortia, and she hosts
the "Winners on Wheels" web site; and
•
Cody was named "One of the 21 coolest girls in America" by YM Magazine; and
•
Cody has won New Mexico Business Weekly's "Power Kid" award, the national
Prudential "Spirit of the Community" award and the National Philanthropy Day's
President's Award, and she was the youngest-ever recipient of the YWCA "Women on
the Move" award; and
•
Cody also won the Grand Prix Americas Foundation's "Special Achievement Award" and
now sits on the board of the Paralysis Health Action Plan Task Force in Washington,
D.C.; and
•
in recent years, Cody has worked tirelessly for all quality-of-life programs for people
with disabilities, including her own, sponsoring several "Cody's Great Scuba Adventure"
programs; and
•
the scuba program has now expanded, and Cody has enlisted other trainers to train people
with other disabilities in scuba diving; and
•
President Gerald and Betty Ford selected Cody as the recipient of the "People Helping
People" award for the "Swim with Mike" program; and
•
Cody was the first-ever recipient of the "Spinal Cord Injury Project Emerging Leader"
award; and
•
Cody has met with national and international leaders, including President Bush; Prince
Andrew; Senators Pete Dominici, Jeff Bingaman, Hillary Clinton and Bill Frist; United
States Representatives Heather Wilson and Diane DeGette; federal Health and Human
Services Secretary Tommy Thompson; and the late Christopher Reeve and his late wife,
Dana, to aid in their promotion of stem cell research; and
•
Cody has been featured in numerous magazines, bringing to light the realities of living
with a disability in the United States today, not only for those with TM but for those with
other disabilities as well, and advocating for stem cell research; and
•
Cody has been featured on Good Morning America, 48 Hours and CNN to focus interest
on persons with disabilities, and she is now the subject of a documentary entitled "Cody",
which is narrated by actor Paul Newman and produced by the city of Santa Fe and
Christopher Productions, that reveals Cody in her day-to-day life as a full-time student at
Redlands University; and
•
Having found her voice as a political activist early in life, Cody created her own degree
program in biopolitics, with the intention of changing health policy from both the medical
perspective and the legal perspective;
RS/bb