awesome: Christopher Reeve's gradual recovery

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B

bizmark

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Feb 4, 2002
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he has recovered his sense of touch, and also is able to move himself in very small movements, including moving his legs and arms while floating in a pool.

For an hour three times a week, Reeve sat on an exercise bicycle while electrical stimulation made his legs pump the pedals. Similar stimulation was done to other muscle groups. Next he began weekly aquatherapy, working his muscles in a pool for two hours at a time.
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Now, Reeve can tell hot from cold. He can feel about two-thirds of the normal sensation of being touched and half of the usual intensity of pinpricks.
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In the water, he can make flying motions with his arms and walk. However, he still requires around-the-clock nursing care, and out of the pool, he cannot raise his arms or walk without being held up.
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MSNBC link

I've never even seen Superman, so I have no personal interest in him, but it's amazing that he has made this much of a recovery, doing relatively simple and inexpensive things for therapy. Sure, he's rich and he's getting lots of treatment that normal people wouldn't, but just the fact that he's doing it makes it that much easier for people to recover in the future.
 
NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,636
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That's awesome!!! :D

That bitch from that poltegeist movie (the one where he head spins around) said that Christopher Reeves deserved to be paralyzed b/c he shouldn't have been riding a horse in the first place.
 
Y

Yzzim

Lifer
Feb 13, 2000
11,990
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Originally posted by: Ameesh
i bet hes for stem cell research.
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I believe he made a case for it back when Bush was debating whether or not to approve it.
 
N

NikPreviousAcct

No Lifer
Aug 15, 2000
52,763
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Yeah, I mean hell... I would love to see a Superman movie with the technology and creativity that movie-makers have now :D :D :D

Goooooooooooooo Reeeeeeeeves!
 
XMan

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
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Originally posted by: NFS4
That's awesome!!! :D

That bitch from that poltegeist movie (the one where he head spins around) said that Christopher Reeves deserved to be paralyzed b/c he shouldn't have been riding a horse in the first place.
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Jobeth Williams? Linda Blair?
 
F

Feebes

Member
Sep 12, 2002
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Man paralysis sucks. One of the saddest things I'v ever seen is an old man on TV in a wheelchair watching people on an ice skating rink. He said that he likes to watch them skate because it's the closest he will ever be to skating himself.
 
JC

JC

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2000
5,855
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Linda Blair??? That wasn't Poltergeist, that was The Exorcist!!! :confused:

Seriously, it's great that he's improving....hope for the other spinal-injury patients! :D

JC
 
NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,636
47
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Originally posted by: JC
Linda Blair??? That wasn't Poltergeist, that was The Exorcist!!! :confused:

Seriously, it's great that he's improving....hope for the other spinal-injury patients! :D

JC
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Well, I knew it was one of those scary freaky movies ;) Regardless. She made a whole big thing about it when it happened and said that he should have been paralyzed b/c someone of his size had no business riding a horse. That's just an awful thing to say IMHO.
 
P

Pr0Hawk

Platinum Member
Feb 12, 2001
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Thats awesome news! Just imagine not being able to feel anything in your body.....just horrible.


And what NFS4 is talking about, I hope that biatch gets in a car accident and gets parylized. When she does we could say, "What were you doing driving a car? WTF were you thinking?" Stupid ingnorant people :disgust:
 
R

rahvin

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Simple and cheap? You realize that he is spending 500k a year on physical therapy right? I don't know many people that can pump 1/2 million a year into physical therapy.
 
B

bizmark

Banned
Feb 4, 2002
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well, exercises in a pool and riding an exercise bike with electric shocks being delivered to your legs doesn't seem like it'd be that difficult to replicate more cheaply. I know he's spending a lot of money, but that's probably just because he's a pioneer with this stuff. $500k/year is actually pretty cheap IMO, considering the high costs of healthcare and the fact that he's doing something nobody's ever done before. Kidney dialysis costs over $40k per year (well, at least it did in 1993, and that's pretty common and requires VERY complicated machines as well as a high degree of patient care.
 
sandorski

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,850
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It's nice to hear he's improving. It's not entirely surprising though. When a spinal chord gets damaged, it takes it years to recover from the trauma. It's not unheard of to have improvements 10 years after the initial trauma. It also depends largely on the type of spinal chord injury, from what was stated in this thread(feeling/movement in legs etc), his spinal chord was not completely severed.

Has he been getting any alternative therapies/drugs/operations?
 
T

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,949
575
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Simple and cheap? You realize that he is spending 500k a year on physical therapy right? I don't know many people that can pump 1/2 million a year into physical therapy.
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Exactly, there is nothing simple or inexpensive about Reeve's therapy. What bothers me is the old saying that 'you don't have a valid disease or illness until someone famous gets it', which is quite true. Before Ronald Reagan, Janet Reno, and now Michael Fox, the likes of Katie Curic and Barbara Walters weren't doing full-hour specials on some regular person's struggle with Parkinsons.

The reason many illnesses are so devastating is precisely because they result in financial ruin for the average person who cannot afford to pay a registered nurse and physical therapist (i.e. the best care money can buy) to live in their home and care for them round the clock. Attempting to promote awareness about a disease or illness by showing how it affects multi-millionares who don't worry about losing their homes, the security of their children's future, etc. is very misguided and only gives a small glimpse of how devastating the illness actually is for the not-so-rich.

So Michael Fox and Reeves can afford to be upbeat and peachy because their wives aren't working two jobs to keep the family from eviction and if their wives were to leave them, as happens in some marriages, no biggie, they can pay for cooks, nannies, maids, etc.
 
Kadarin

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
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I still think it's quite amazing. The key to it is the fact that the spinal column was only about 3/4 severed, so there's a chance the remaining nerves could be re-taught. I wish him the best of luck, and would love to someday hear that he's walking again... :)
 
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