“
To feel a hug would mean the world. ”
Only a treatment for paralysis can give someone with spinal cord injury the chance to feel again.
A MESSAGE FROM PERRY CROSS AM
This is my life. And this is why I need your help
Every morning, before I can have a coffee or join a meeting, my team and I go through a routine together. It takes time. It takes a team. And I have been doing it every day for more than 30 years.
I don’t share this for sympathy. I share it because I want you to understand what drives me and why this Tax Appeal matters more than ever.
What I want most isn’t what most people expect.
People often expect me to say I want to walk again. To run. To dance across a room. And those dreams matter, of course they do.
But what I long for most is something far simpler.
“Motor function is different, because mobility is sort of easy — you can make up for lost function with a wheelchair. But with sensory function, you can’t make up for it. I don’t feel anyone when they shake my hand, or touch me on the shoulder, or even give me a hug. I don’t feel anything. It would be incredible to regain touch.”
— Perry Cross AM
Your donation helps make this possible. Every tax-deductible gift before 30 June funds world-class research to find that treatment.
EVERY STORY IS DIFFERENT. THE LONGING IS THE SAME
This is not just Perry’s story.
Across Australia, thousands of people are living with spinal cord injuries. Their carers. Their partners. Their parents. Every story is different. But when Perry asks what people long for most, the answers are always the same.
“To walk on the beach. To feel the sand beneath my toes.”
“To feel a hand in mine. To feel someone touch my arm.”
“To feel the warmth of a child’s hug.”
These aren’t extraordinary wishes. They are ordinary, human moments — the kind most of us never stop to think about.
Only a treatment for paralysis can bring those moments closer.
THE SCIENCE – WHERE WE ARE AT RIGHT NOW
30+ years of research and advocacy led by Perry Cross AM.
World-first Nerve Bridge Transplantation Human Clinical Trial. Now underway.
World-class research team. The strongest in the Foundation’s history.
Thousands of Australians living with spinal cord injuries. Waiting for a breakthrough.
We are closer than we have ever been.
The Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation is funding and supporting the world-first Nerve Bridge Transplantation and Rehabilitation Human Clinical Trial.
This is not a distant ambition. The trial is not a concept. It is happening right now — the result of decades of work, hundreds of thousands of donor gifts, and a research team Perry has spent years assembling.
This is the moment Perry Cross has been working towards for more than 30 years. The science is moving at a pace he has only dreamed of.
But research doesn’t stop because a deadline approaches. Your gift today keeps the momentum going. All the way to the breakthrough.
DON’T MISS THE DEADLINE
A donation to the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation before 30 June 2026 is tax-deductible, which means you can support life-changing research and reduce your tax at the same time.
Here’s what your gift does:
- Funds the world-first clinical trial working towards a treatment for paralysis
- Supports the strongest research team the Foundation has ever had
- Gives thousands of people in the SCI community the hope of a breakthrough
Every gift, no matter the size, is a step towards the day someone with a spinal cord injury can feel a hug again.
“I have spent more than 30 years working towards this moment. I know we can do it, and with people like you beside me, we will move mountains to make it happen.”
— Perry Cross AM
