Christopher Reeve Vows to Be Walking in Five Years
Reuters
31-MAY-98
By Paul Majendie
LONDON, May 31 (Reuters) - Superman star Christopher Reeve, paralyzed from the
neck down in a fall from a horse, vowed on Sunday he would be walking within
five years.
``It is a challenge to the scientists the way that President Kennedy
challenged scientists to put a man on the moon by the end of the sixties,'' he
told Sir David Frost in a BBC television interview. ``It is a way of trying to
speed up the research and to put a ticking clock on the situation.''
Reeve has sought to teach others trapped in wheelchairs that their disability
is not necessarily a life sentence. The 45-year-old actor believes his
breakthrough can come by the time he is 50.
``The way things are going, I think it is going to be possible because
regeneration of nerves and the spinal cord have always been thought to be
impossible.
``But now it has been discovered it can happen and that human trials are not
far off, I have got five years to go and I think I will make it.''
Reeve soared to celebrity playing Superman in the early 1980s movies. But his
accident three years ago confined him to a wheelchair, unable to use his arms
or legs and relying on a machine to assist his breathing.
Despite his injuries, he is making a name for himself as a director. ``In the
Gloaming,'' which he directed for cable television, received widespread
acclaim from critics as well as awards.
He is now developing a new version of Alfred Hitchcock's ``Rear Window'' in
which the central character is confined to a wheelchair.
Reeve has also written his autobiography -- ``Still Me'' which is a play on
words referring to his state of immobility and the moment his wife Dana
banished from Reeve's mind any idea of just giving up and dying.
He told Frost: ``Without blinking an eye, she said 'But you are still you and
I still love you.' What she said changed my life and made it possible to go
on.''
The resilience and adaptability of their three-year-old son Will was another
source of strength and inspiration.
``We were in rehab and he was trying to figure things out,'' Reeve recalled.
He said 'Dad cannot walk any more, Dad cannot play with me anymore the way he
did.' He thought for a while and concentrated and then said 'But he can still
smile.'''
Reeve faces the heartache of never being able to hug his growing son but ``I
spend time with him, I watch him, I applaud his accomplishments and that is
really what a kid wants to know -- that I am there for him and would love him
just as much as I ever would have.''
Such a cruel and unexpected twist of fate could have destroyed Reeve and left
him broken in mind as well as spirit. But he has forced himself to dig deep
into hitherto unknown reserves of resilience.
``The world is a pretty chaotic place,'' he said. ``Things happen fairly
randomly but the challenge is after an injury like this, after a life-changing
experience is to discover meaning, finding a way of putting it into
perspective.
``My challenge as I recovered was not only to recover my body but to recover a
sense of purpose and fortunately I have been able to do that.''
Reuters/Variety
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.