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Death of a Superhero
By Deborah Smith and Eric Slater
October 11, 2004
Superman to super campaigner ... Reeve (with
wife Dana last year) said "to be able to feel
just the lightest touch is really a gift".
 Christopher
Reeve's rugged good looks and impressive physique may
have won him the role of Superman on the silver
screen. But it was his super hero qualities of courage
and determination in his wheelchair, after a horse
riding accident nine years ago, that confirmed his
place on the world stage as a leading advocate for
people with spinal injuries.
News of his death from heart failure was greeted
with sadness yesterday by fans as well as by
Australian researchers, who predicted one of his
legacies would be to help make NSW a world-leading
centre for spinal injury research and rehabilitation.
The 52-year-old American actor, who was paralyzed
from the neck down, was the star attraction in Sydney
in January last year at the NSW Premier's Forum on
Spinal Cord Injury and Conditions, which brought
together for the first time in Australia more than
1000 scientists, politicians, people with spinal
injuries, their careers and families.
Associate Professor Glen Davis, director of the
Rehabilitation Research Centre at the University of
Sydney, said the presence of Reeve, who had regained
some movement in his arms and legs after intensive
therapy, had been invaluable in crystallizing the NSW
Government's decision to invest in research.
"I feel saddened the person who was the
biggest advocate of people with spinal cord injuries
is no longer with us," he said.
 Reeve
fell into a coma on Saturday after going into cardiac
arrest while at his New York home. He was being
treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a
pressure wound, a common complication for people who
are paralyzed. It had become infected in the past
week, resulting in a serious systemic infection.
His wife, Dana Reeve, issued a statement thanking
the hospital for its excellent care.
"I also want to thank his personal staff of
nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from
around the world who have supported and loved my
husband over the years," she said.
Professor Davis said that while an infection from a
pressure sore was moderately common it was rare for it
to become so severe it led to heart failure.
Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown
from his horse during an equestrian competition.
Although he needed a respirator to breathe, he devoted
his energies to an intensive program of physiotherapy,
electrical stimulation and exercise. He used a
technique called functional electrical stimulation,
with electrodes attached to his legs, to allow him to
ride a bicycle so he could improve his cardiovascular
fitness. The same electrical technique was used to
stimulate nerves and muscles in his chest and regulate
his breathing. This eventually resulted in him being
able to breathe unassisted for more than 90 minutes.
His progress even surprised his doctors. In 2002
they reported in the Journal of Neurosurgery
that he was able to make small movements with his
elbows, wrists, fingers, hips and knees. This exceeded
any progress in people with similar spinal injuries
previously documented in the medical literature, they
said.
He was also able to feel the touch of a finger on
his skin over about half his body and was able to
sense pin pricks and heat and cold. "To be able
to feel just the lightest touch is really a
gift," Reeve told People magazine.
Professor Davis said that functional electrical
stimulation during exercise had been used for several
years in Australia before Reeve's visit. However, the
suggestion that it might have not only have improved
his health and fitness, but perhaps restored some
nerve functioning, highlighted the need for research.
A University of Sydney team, led by Dr James
Middleton, was a recent recipient of a $1 million
research grant from the State Government. It will
examine the role of functional electrical stimulation
in helping people with spinal injuries make leg and
hand movements. Its potential benefits in helping
people cough will also be explored. People with
high-level spinal cord injury are 150 times more
likely to die from pneumonia than the rest of the
population.
 Reeve
was also one of the highest profile advocates of
controversial research on stem cells collected from
human embryos, which he believed had potential to
treat spinal cord injuries. This issue has figured in
the American election campaign and Reeve's name was
invoked by the Democrat presidential candidate, John
Kerry, during his second debate with President George
Bush, who has limited the research on ethical grounds.
Senator Kerry said expanding embryonic stem cell
research would be the best way to give Reeve and
others like him the chance for a better life.
"Chris Reeve is a friend of mine," Kerry
said. "Chris Reeve exercises each and every day
to keep those muscles alive so that one day he can
walk again."
In Sydney, Reeve argued Australia should allow
therapeutic cloning, in which embryos cloned from the
cell of an adult are created for the extraction of
stem cells, even though a three-year moratorium had
been imposed here a few months earlier.
Reeve crisscrossed the US with an entourage of
nurses as an advocate for the disabled and
handicapped, speaking to college students, actors and
almost anyone who would listen.
A year after his accident, Reeve told the Los
Angeles Times: "I think that setting
challenges is a great motivator because too many
people with disabilities allow that to become the
dominating factor in their lives and I refuse to allow
a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't
mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a
bit daunting actually is very helpful toward
recovery."
He returned to acting after the accident and in
1997 made his directorial debut with the critically
acclaimed film, In The Gloaming.
Reeve is survived by his wife Dana, their
12-year-old son, Will, his two children from his
relationship with Gae Exton, Matthew, 25, and
Alexandra, 21, his parents, Barbara and Franklin, and
brother Benjamin.
with the Los Angeles Times
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