“He’d gone down this hill near our house a million times,” Marcia Mills said. “For some reason, this time, he lost control and flew over the handle bars.”
Damon Mills injured his spine, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the neck down. He was stabilized at UCLA, then transferred to Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey.
As he focused on his physical recovery, his wife, and the couple’s three children, Marc, Lisa and Kelly, researched the best available treatments – and hope – for his condition. In the course of their investigation, the family read about the stem cell research program at UCI, which was in its infancy. Although they saw hope for future spinal cord injury patients in the research, it could offer nothing for them in 2005.