“I think evidence shows that the Doctors who told me not to be hopeful were wrong. There is a reason to hope, and more importantly, there is a reason to work for faster progress toward a cure.” – Barry Munro
Born and raised in Richmond Hill, Barry Munro graduated from St. Robert Catholic High School and obtained his Honours Bachelor of History and Political Science from the University of Guelph in 1987.
Subsequently, he attended the Osgoode Hall Law School where he received his Bachelor of Laws and was later called to the bar of Ontario in 1996.
Following a diving accident in 1987, Barry Munro sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI) resulting in quadriplegia. Also known as tetraplegia, this spinal cord injury induces partial or complete limb impairment and torso functioning.
Throughout his years of practice, he specialized in personal injuries and was actively volunteering for non-profit organizations related to his quadriplegic condition.
In recent years, the research in the neurotrauma field has improved so much, that nearly 20 years later, Barry Munro is taking a step back from his practice and is now more motivated than ever in helping find a cure to paralysis.
He is now the Chief Development Officer of the Canadian Spinal Research Organization, an organization devoted to financing the specialized research in the field of recovery from spinal cord injury triggered paralysis.
He is also a Co-Chair of the Shoot for a Cure fundraising campaign and an invaluable asset to numerous non-profit organizations, most notably the Richmond Hill Mobility Accessibility Foundation.
“My injury happened when I was 24 years old. I have been in a wheel chair longer than half my life. With all the dramatic improvements in health care and science, we should not give up hope for a cure. Today, HIV is no longer a death sentence, why has the spinal cord injury not seen dramatic progress? Have we become complacent with improvements in assistant devices and accessible environments? Have we taken our eye off the main objective? I think we have. Help me find a cure in your lifetime by working together.”
What can we do?
Most of all don’t give up on a cure.
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Read moreI am now devoting 100% of my time to the Canadian Spinal Research Organization.
The idea of Shoot for a Cure is to create a fundraising campaign to fund neurotrauma research, prevention and awareness.
My goal, which has been my goal since 1987, since my accident, is to find a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury.
Most people are all talk and no action.
I dove in that lake thousands of times, but the water was down that year and I hit my head on a rock, causing compressed fractures in my neck. Basically I broke my neck.
A donation to CSRO would go a long way to help people like me to walk again.
We are a not-for-profit foundation, dedicated to making the town of Richmond Hill a more accessible, barrier-free community for persons with physical and mental disabilities.
The Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF) supports research and practice in the field of neurotrauma. Our work benefits everyone with a personal or professional interest in neurotrauma.
The CSRO began when a few brave souls spoke out and asked, why can’t there be a cure? The charity was built on the premise of hope. An unyielding belief that one day, there would be a cure for paralysis.
Shoot for a Cure is a fundraising campaign of the Canadian Spinal Research Organization (CSRO), the American Spinal Research Organization (ASRO) and the StopConcussions Foundation.
Barry Munro is an award-winning philanthropist and the Chief Development Officer of the Canadian Spinal Research Organization. After working as a personal injury attorney, Barry decided to dedicate his time fully to help find a cure to paralysis. He has also been an influential member in multiple non-profit organizations. Suffering from a spinal cord injury has not slowed him down, but fueled his quest for a cure.
