I have no idea -- as far as I know there have been no studies.
The quads I know say it is a pain in the ass but don't spend their lives waiting/straining themselves for a cure. The greater needs are jobs and adequate assistance with daily tasks that allow them to live at home and get on with their lives. Unemployment, poverty, lack of personal assistants, etc. are much more needed than having a therapist to come move one's legs around in an experiment that even if it would work for all quads and paras (which it won't, the experts say it may only work for a limited few injuries), the quads and paras could not afford.
Reeve spends $400,000 a year on his cure treatments and personal care which are not covered by insurance.
99.9% of the quads/para's are much much poorer than Reeve. Most folks say a cure is pie in the sky. IMHO I agree with them, Reeve who is a member of the rich elite and has celebrity status, is throwing his life away when he could be doing something that would change other quads lives for the better by focusing on discrimination (social and economic) instead of cure.
And why is it that ONE Reeve gets so much attention when those disability activists who have been doing such fine work to make amore accessible society are rarely, if ever, noticed? Could it have something to do with all those nondisabled producers, journalists and reporters out there who identify with Reeve the non crip, who pity Reeve, the former Superman? Could it be that Reeve, having acquired a disability and remaining so fixated on cure, is keeping us in the Dark Ages in that respect?
Marta -- Marta Russell Los Angeles, CA http://www.disweb.org