There have been great advancements in spinal cord research over the past couple of decades, but there is still a long way to go before wheelchairs are a thing of the past.

On Sunday at Eau Claire Market, the 7th Annual Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion event will be held to raise funds and awareness for Calgarians with mobility challenges.

Vance Milligan is a successful corporate securities lawyer. He's so well thought of he was appointed Queens Council. You'd never know he was in a wheelchair - and that's the point. Milligan has no trouble getting around Bennett Jones, the respected national law firm that he's worked for his entire 30 year career. He started practicing law a year after breaking his neck while surfing in California.

"We are the decisive element in our lives. We get to choose how we're going to play the hand we're dealt, and I think all of us can be an inspiration to others in terms of demonstrating how it is you sort of deal with that."

Since 2003, Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion has raised nearly $10-million to help Canadians deal with their mobility challenges. The organization has also funded spinal cord research, and there have been significant advancements.

Matt Grant, with Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Calgary, says 90 per cent of what we know about spinal cord treatment has been learned in the past two decades.

"They're doing really amazing things and I've got to think that's largely attributable to the kind of advances we've seen over the last few years."

Some of the key research is being done right here in Calgary. Dr. Peter Stys at the University of Calgary uses a laser scanning microscope to study damaged spinal cord cells. He examines nerve fibres that are 40 times smaller than a human hair, with the ultimate goal of helping injured people walk again.

"We are making tremendous advances in the area of spinal cord research," said Milligan. "I'm hopeful, but it's not in the near future. But we can do things to improve the quality of life for persons who are in a wheelchair."

And in meantime, wheelchairs have been advancing too. Disabilities advocate, Barry Lindemann, says his chair is a lot better than the first one he had after a diving accident 15 years ago.

"This is the way you get around and it's amazing with the technology, with the tilt and they've got it where now the - go up which allows you to - I always joke I date women up to 5'4" or something along that level."

The real hope is that one day the only place we'll see a wheelchair is in a museum.