September 10, 2002

1:17 PM

Christopher Reeve is gaining ground in his fight against paralysis.I was prepared for the article to be a typical "celebrity's struggle gets public attention" piece, until I read this:

"No one who has suffered an injury as severe as Chris', and failed to have any initial recovery, has regained the amount of motor and sensory function he has."

Hope is coming for many.
posted by o2b (25 comments total)

My son cried when he heard that Superman would never walk again. I'm taking this news home today with a smile on my face. What a good way to end the day.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:26 PM on September 10, 2002

Anybody remember that extremely distasteful (and creepy) Superbowl commerical where Christopher Reeves walked?


Everybody I was in the room with thought it was hilarious.
posted by Stan Chin at 1:30 PM on September 10, 2002

Go Superman! Go!
posted by ericdano at 1:30 PM on September 10, 2002

Everybody I was in the room with thought it was hilarious.

That brings to mind a joke about.. Ahhh, nevermind.

---

Good news all around, I suppose. It's amazing what them there scientists can do.
posted by The God Complex at 1:36 PM on September 10, 2002

Does Christopher Reeve like it when people call him "Superman?" I mean, wouldn't it be sort of like calling Todd Bridges "Willis" or Jerry Mathers "Beav"?
posted by PrinceValium at 1:36 PM on September 10, 2002

I remember being really surprised when he survived the fall. I'm sure credit is due the doctors, but I really believe Chris's will has had a lot to due with this. Sometimes denial can be a good thing, I guess. Really puts my trivial crap in perspective. Thanks for the link, o2b.
posted by Miss Beth at 1:42 PM on September 10, 2002

Yeah, thanks. I read this earlier via CNN and it made me really think. Especially about (in the CNN article) celebrating the ability to "feel human touch." Wow, imagine not being able to feel touch and then to get it back. It must be the most wonderous feeling in the world.

I've often told my husband that if something happends and I'm paralyzed to not bothering to try to keep me alive. (But I know that I have to put that in writing.) I'm amazing at his (and others like him) ability to keep living and keeping a positive outlook in the face of something so hideously awful.
posted by aacheson at 1:49 PM on September 10, 2002

Reeve can move the fingers on his left hand and the toes on both feet. He can feel a pin prick on most parts of his body and can tell the difference between hot and cold, and sharp and dull.

Still sounds pretty horrific. I always figured I'd rather die than be completely paralyzed. This left me wondering. Good inspiring post.

*slumps at desk, taking functioning body completely for granted*
posted by gottabefunky at 1:51 PM on September 10, 2002

Alarmingly, the EPA report noted that the five heart-warmingest years on record have all occurred within the past 10 years. The warmest ever, 1995, coincided with the release of the film The Bridges Of Madison County and Vanessa Williams' Pocahontas theme song "Colors Of The Wind," as well as the tragic, deeply moving paralysis of Christopher Reeve in an equestrian accident.
posted by ColdChef at 1:57 PM on September 10, 2002

But, seriously: Good for him.
posted by ColdChef at 2:00 PM on September 10, 2002

I can't imagine after seven years being able to feel my kids touch again. Unbelievable.
posted by domino at 2:23 PM on September 10, 2002

Hope is coming for many.

That may be, but I'll bet most people with similar injuries can't afford $500,000 a year for treatment (from CNN's article).
posted by hyperizer at 2:28 PM on September 10, 2002

I'm surprised. The doctors I've discussed this with used to say that Reeve would never walk again, his naive fortitude to the contrary. Maybe they're wrong.
posted by gsteff at 2:32 PM on September 10, 2002

I recently watched Alan Alda interview Reeve on an episode of Scientific American Frontiers, and I was awe struck by Reeve's resolve. Alda asked Reeve about the quote, "God grant me the strength to accept the things I can not change, the power to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reeve said something to the effect he does not set limits, anything can be changed. At the time, I respected his fortitude but did not believe he'd be able to change those "things he could not change" through physical therapy and positive thinking. I stand corrected. I'll have to look into removing some of the self-imposed limits in my own life.
posted by gruchall at 4:15 PM on September 10, 2002

Is there a way to scientifically quantify that he is in fact feeling things? I mean, no offense to the guy, but is it possible that some of it is wishful or perhaps "phantom" feeling? The article doesn't say anything about actually seeing the guy move anything--just that he can occasionallty feel sensations. It just brought to my mind the phantom pains that amputees have in limbs they no longer have.
posted by macadamiaranch at 4:15 PM on September 10, 2002

Well, I stand corrected. I read the cnn article at work which to me seemed more vague, but the msnbc one does say he can "move" some stuff--at will though? But still...I just would hate to think the guy might be getting ahead of himself. And while they say he's not, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is actually receiving some stem cell treatments.
posted by macadamiaranch at 4:19 PM on September 10, 2002

Fuck, yeah! Now that's a superman. Thanks for the link, o2b; it's made my day.
posted by sennoma at 5:59 PM on September 10, 2002

A subject close to my heart.

A year after Reeve crushed his spinal cord resulting in a level one spinal injury , my brother severed his spinal cord in a motorcycle racing accident leaving him with a level four injury. Level of injury is based on how high up on the spinal cord the injury takes place. The major difference between a level one injury and a level four is the ability to move your head and breathe on your own. Since their respective injuries occurred, Reeve has been upgraded to a level 2 and my brother is now a level 5 due to gained movement and feeling over time. I don't know if Reeve's gains have much to do with all the experimental treatments he receives or not, because my brother hasn't received any of those. But still he has gained movement in his wrists and now has feeling in his thumbs. I personally think it's just the body trying to crank up and turn the engine over.

My brother is a quad and he has movement from the shoulders up. Barring some miracle in nerve surgery repair during his lifetime he will never walk again because his spinal cord was severed. Christopher Reeve might just have a chance to walk again because his spinal cord wasn't severed but crushed. That could have a lot to do with his high hopes and optimistic views. He's not naive at all because doctors treating him know there are great strides being made and they are encouraging him. I think he deserves all the support a person can muster up. And yes ... macadamiaranch ... he probably hasn't tried stem cell, but he will because fetal stem cells are the most promising nerve research on the horizon right now ...

My brother received first rate care at Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta. Within three months of his injury he learned how to drive a specially equipped computerized van with some kind of funky wrist attachment. He went back to work. He helps coach his son's football team. He mentors at Shepherd. It's like he never missed a beat and his spirit is incredible. This is a guy who was a champion slalom waterskier and raced motorcycles. His lifestyle ultimately cost him but like he says, "that's the way it goes". He was 27 years old when it happened. He's my hero. So is his wife. And he gets real mad when people view him in a pitiful light, because he's not pitiful at all.

Anyone who says they would rather be dead than live with such an injury probably isn't thinking too clearly, because that's just what I said when Reeve had his injury. Then it happened to someone I love and I know the world would be a little less beautiful had he died instead.
posted by oh posey at 6:26 PM on September 10, 2002

Is there a way to scientifically quantify that he is in fact feeling things? I mean, no offense to the guy, but is it possible that some of it is wishful or perhaps "phantom" feeling? The article doesn't say anything about actually seeing the guy move anything--just that he can occasionally feel sensations. It just brought to my mind the phantom pains that amputees have in limbs they no longer have.

It's hard to tell without going into further detail. His sensation is probably a kind of phantom feeling. It's possible that he associates somatosensory memory with his visual field (everybody has cells in their parietal cortical areas for example which are able to respond to both touch and vision). The news of CR's faint somatosensory sensation and leaning at will while standing in supporting braces were already known in the scientific community for a while.

Even if his everyday sensation would turn out to be not reproducible and nonscientific as far as rigorous laboratory experiments go, if you were a scientist with the means to carry out such experiments in excruciating detail, would you have the heart to tell him that and take away his joy?
He is undergoing locomotion/posture rehabilitation at UCLA - to his sorrow he had to realize, that he cannot walk on the day of his 50th birthday. Why should we take away even more from him?

He alone contributed to the progress of spinal cord regeneration research tremendously. People who are currently confined to wheelchairs are not quite sure that the money is well spent for some kind of future promise, but again, it's hard to make good arguments either for or against in cases like this.

If you would like to read related news, please come to our site, and please contribute with your opinion - now or later. You are more than welcome.

Neuroprosthesis News
posted by neu at 8:23 PM on September 10, 2002

my right leg is paralyzed. and i have never fully regained feeling in it. i still have slight sensation about the knee area and some in the foot, but for the most part, it's a dead limb.

i sympathize with reeves on most accounts, and hope that if nothing else his high profile case will raise awareness about paralysis caused by accidents.

i don't really feel like saying too much more, to be honest with you. and i don't really have a reason.
posted by oog at 9:07 PM on September 10, 2002

Is there a way to scientifically quantify that he is in fact feeling things?

Couldn't they just have him close his eyes and tell the doctor when and where he feels a pin prick?
posted by jaden at 9:33 PM on September 10, 2002

Anyone who says they would rather be dead than live with such an injury probably isn't thinking too clearly, because that's just what I said when Reeve had his injury. Then it happened to someone I love and I know the world would be a little less beautiful had he died instead.

Thanks oh posey. As a paralyzed person, I cringe every time someone says they'd rather die then be paralyzed. It saddens me greatly that many people still think disability is a fate worse than death. It is not.

I am sure that Reeve is getting the very best therapy money can buy, but I fail to see how "electrical muscle stimulation combined with repetitive motion exercises" could repair his spinal cord.

*thumbs up to neu* Been reading Neuroprosthesis News for awhile now; keep up the good work
posted by Soliloquy at 10:00 PM on September 10, 2002

Does Christopher Reeve like it when people call him "Superman?"

or like "supes," i was just thinking how annoying that'd be!

gruchall, i saw that episode, too. i missed the reeve's part unfortunately, but the part about functional electrical stimulation was amazing. like it reminded me of an experiment with a dead frog where they hooked up electrodes to its leg nerve and caused it to 'jump'. i kinda figure it's a similar (but MUCH more elaborate :) procedure.
posted by kliuless at 8:40 AM on September 11, 2002

Soliloquy, functional electrical muscle stimulation can slow down the muscle atrophy process to some extent. It can contribute to nerve regeneration only in very mild cases of injury. Christopher Reeve is fully aware of that of course. He wants to stay in good physical shape, considering his situation. He kept expressing his hope that he is going to walk on his 50th birthday ...
Let's wish him Happy Birthday. It's coming up soon.

Thanks.
posted by neu at 9:28 AM on September 11, 2002

Follow up story.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:36 PM on September 13, 2002