Superman a Superhero

[Lady Dame]

Christopher Reeve journeyed from onscreen superhero to real-life champion before his death at age 52.

The father of three died Sunday of complications from a serious bloodstream infection caused by a bedsore, a common problem for quadriplegics.

He went into cardiac arrest Saturday at his home in Pound Ridge, N.Y., then fell into a coma, dying the next day at a hospital in the presence of his wife, Dana, and other family members.

"He put up with a lot," his mother, Barbara Johnson, told the syndicated television show, The Insider.

"I'm glad that he is free of all those tubes.''

Before a 1995 horseback riding accident, which left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down, he'd been most noted for portraying comic book character Superman in four films from 1978 to 1987. But from his wheelchair, Reeve commanded the attention of scientists and government officials as he travelled the world lobbying for advances in the treatment of spinal cord injuries.

The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation has given $40 million (U.S.) to spinal cord research since he merged it with the American Paralysis Foundation in 1999.

Along with fellow actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, he helped make stem cell research a major campaign issue between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry.

Yesterday, in Santa Fe, N.M., Kerry called Reeve "an inspiration to all of us ..." Reeve was determined to walk again. Last year he had electrodes implanted in his diaphragm, which increased his ability to breathe without a respirator from 10 minutes to two hours at a stretch.

"I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life," he said.

"I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery."

With the help of intensive therapy he managed to regain some sensation in his hands and legs, defying expectations that he would never be able to feel or move from the neck down.

Reeve's political activism dated back to his youth.

"When I was at Cornell (University), it was at the time of the Black Panther movement, the first Earth Day in '72, Cambodia and Watergate, and I remember thinking that if I ever become well known as an actor, I'd try to use that position to affect change and to try and make a difference," he told the Star's Rita Zekas in 1991.

"We're private citizens who have access to the media and we inform ourselves on issues. In the past, we assumed the government had a program. There wasn't a homeless population, AIDS, racism, the economic issue, (former Ku Klux Klan leader) David Duke. Those are products of the late '80s. Someone has to deal with it. What are you gonna do, stand around?"


In loving memory...

[hardstylin]

this makes me sad..GO superman!!

[{dC!}]

I believe there was already a thread about Christopher ...

But there can never be too many I suppose :

He was a great man and will never be forgotten :)