Gloria Estefan, who was temporarily paralyzed in a tour-bus accident 16 years ago, is donating $1 million for the creation of a human clinical trials program at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
The gift, announced Tuesday by the singer and her producer husband Emilio Estefan, is targeted to position Miami Project scientists to move quickly toward human trials as promising research is discovered.
The 1990 accident in Pennsylvania broke Estefan’s back, but she recovered.
“Tomorrow, which is also my mother’s birthday, will be 16 years that I got that operation and my extra spare parts that I carry with me still with pride and love, those titanium rods,” Estefan said Tuesday.
Then, she mused: “I don’t beep at airports. I always get that question. I’m not magnetic. Space age metal. And titanium reinforced. Guys in my band called me robo-pop.”’
Estefan, 48, serves on the Board of Directors of The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the national fundraising arm of The Miami Project, a leader in spinal cord injury research.
She was the lead singer of the Miami Sound Machine before a successful solo career. Among her hits are “Conga,” “Anything for You,” and “Coming out of the Dark.”