In September 2020, my 13-year-old cousin, Scarlett Todd-Griffin, was rushed to hospital as she had lost feeling in her legs at age 10. In the space of 48 hours, Scarlett went from being the most active child who liked to dance and play around, to having a complete C5 (lower neck) spinal cord injury, leaving her paralysed from the chest down. Scarlett had suffered a spinal cavernoma, a build-up of blood vessels on the spinal cord – a very rare condition, especially in someone so young. This happened out of the blue and had life-changing consequences for her and her family. Scarlett spent 14 weeks in hospital and rehabilitation centres, learning how to adjust to life after her injury. Despite this, Scarlett has never lost hope.  

I am so proud of our little superhero, she is a true real-life Griffin warrior, who we are all so proud of every single day. We have watched you keep pushing and Scarlett has inspired us all by how she has taken on every challenge of her new lifestyle. As a Griffin, I am extremely grateful to be able to support our family by helping to raise awareness of Spinal injuries. I would love nothing more than all the donations to be utilised for scientific advances and funding medical research to give Scarlett hope for an even more promising future as she continues to grow into a beautiful young lady. All donations are much appreciated!

Spinal Research is the UK’s leading charity funding medical research around the world to develop effective treatments for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Every year 1,000 people in the UK and Ireland are paralysed following an injury to their spinal cord. We receive no government funding and rely entirely on the support of the public to raise funds for our research. Because of the efforts of our supporters, we have funded innovative medical research that has achieved a number of ground breaking changes in the field.