. Approximately 86,000 Canadians are living with a spinal cord injury, with 4,300 new cases each year.

. One in three people in Canada will be disabled for three or more months before the age of 65.

. Canadians with a spinal cord injury are re-hospitalized 2.6 times more often than the aver-age Canadian. They also require three times more contact with a physician and 30 times more hours of home care service.

. People with a spinal cord injury have a life expectancy of 15 to 30 fewer years than the average Canadian.

. The financial care requirements over a lifetime for some-one with a spinal cord injury can range from $1.6 million to $3 million, depending on the level of paralysis.

. The economic cost of traumatic spinal cord injury is estimated at $3.6 billion a year in Canada.

. More than 60 per cent of people living with a spinal cord injury are unemployed.

. Rick Hansen's original tour 25 years ago raised $26 mil-lion, which has been leveraged into $245 million in direct investments.

. The Rick Hansen Foundation supports numerous projects and programs, such as the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, and has funded organizations like the Canadian Paraplegic Association and the Neil Squire Foundation, which offer vital assistance to those living with spinal cord injuries and to their families.

. The foundation has also worked with schools, municipalities and community groups to create 47 accessible play-grounds in B.C., while the Rick Hansen School Program provides teaching tools to more than 1,000 Canadian schools.

Original post:
Spinal cord injuries in Canada

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