From J. Edgar Hoover to Christopher Reeve

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Christopher Reeve
May 11, 1998

An actor best known for his role as Superman, Christopher Reeve severed his spinal cord falling from a horse in 1995. Paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve was confined to a wheelchair and breathed only through a ventilator. He became an outspoken critic of the American health insurance system, a lobbyist for spinal cord research, and a symbol of hope and strength for paraplegics worldwide. He died in 2004 at age 52.

When I was first injured I was not able to feel the bottom of my spine. About a year later, I developed sensation all the way down, and now someone touches it, it's painful. And that's a good kind of pain, believe me. Then there are the spasms. I could drive this wheelchair too quickly over a bump and my legs and arms would flail because the brain is not able to tell the body it's not a crisis; it's just a bump. The point is that having spasms is actually a good thing because it means the nerves are still alive and making the body move.

How much function will you get back?

Eventually the whole thing. I think I won't be able to run around and play tennis. But I do think that I will walk, and walk fairly normally.

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With Danielle Burton, Carol S. Hook, Jill Konieczko, Jennifer O'Shea, Stephanie Salmon, and Bobbie Kyle Sauer