|0.00|> We can study when we finally start our in-pro-fir school.<|11.84|><|11.84|> We have a long way to go and a very short period of time to do it in.<|16.16|><|16.16|> So we can't ignore it.<|17.88|><|17.88|> It is not going to go away, except an awful lot of topography.<|24.48|><|24.48|> Anything else?<|26.04|><|26.04|> Commander?<|27.04|><|27.04|> Yes.<|28.04|><|28.04|> I found this indication of how much papers on my desk. It's dated July 17, 1995. British author Benjamin Cream, unusual message, speaks directly to the matter, reestablishing meaning in our lives, blah, blah, blah, global crisis.

He's talking about the reemergence of Maitreya, the Christ, world teacher for all humanity. And there's a picture here of Maitreya, appearance in Nairobi Canyon 1988, story in a photo broadcast by CNN. Is this the Antichrist? Are you asking me to answer that? I was just wondering what your opinion would be. Well, I don't have any patience whatsoever with Krim. Mayatria is a what you would call an avatar I suppose he would be expected back as representing the God or the deity. On the other hand I told you that there aren't any such things running around in this world including Mayatria.

energies, great spirits, and I have no right to tell you who is an anti-God and anti-Christ. You must grow into responding and respecting and discerning and read carefully what all is said about it. He was also supposedly supposedly stationed somewhere in London and there are some high beings that have come out of the areas from which you would expect Maitreya. No, he is not the Yes. Not that it can be printed in here. That is a set up, pure murder. This one will probably get through. They can't hear well enough when they talk. And then they complain to the word. And the word doesn't like it.

I can't imagine that. Such a sweet personality. The word's getting very invasive. But about two years ago, there was a sudden maneuver done in the Grand Canyon where they closed off a large portion of it. I'm trying to remember. I'm interacting my brain to try to remember what was the official excuse. I think it had to do with so-called crumbling of the walking paths or something that were just fine, but Callie first brought it to my attention. There was a great deal of curiosity and questioning on Art Belshill.

Nobody ever came forth except one geologist who said, you would be surprised to know what really is going on in the Grand Canyon right now. Yes, uncovered one of the openings. Yes. Right. Yes, right. There had been some quaking going on in that area, and it did cause a little crumbling of some paths, but more inconveniently, it opened. We had speculated that it opened, and commanders verified that. It actually opened. You see, there were already openings, and some of these great caverns with these cities were investigated. They did find the mummies and they did all... it was found and then these openings were closed. And some of those opened again and a lot more of them are going to open.

Let's have breakfast. What a show tonight is in store for you and me and the rest of the country and world. Our special guest is Christopher Reeve. This program was taped just a couple of hours ago at our studios in New York. It's great to have you. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much, Fyre. Thanks. What? Fuck you. Even though we don't have a microphone, which is stuck somewhere in Boston. I heard it's on a plane somewhere.

No, but generally, this is difficult, isn't it, for you? To come down here, come to the studio? Yeah, it's an effort, but you know, I really want to get the word out about what spinal cord injury is and about the hope for the future and to help people with that. Was it something you ever thought about? Oh my God, no, I had no idea. I didn't even know what the consequences were. If you were watching a show, say, with Sergeant McDonald of the New York City Police who has the same thing, it would be just an interesting show to you. Oh, my heart would go out to him, but now that I'm in this condition and I realize, you know, what the difficulties are, you know, every day is a challenge.

However, however, we're on the threshold now, I mean I'm very lucky, because we're talking at a time when we're on the threshold of a cure. What I want to talk to you about is because the political connection and the private sector to working together, we are within 5, 7, maybe 8, 10 years of curing this time. When you mean cure you mean? I'm going to get up out of the chair and throw it away and walk. So you mean cure, cure? Yeah, I do. Now, even if there is an absolute cure for that for spinal cord, every time you heal somebody even a little bit, they have a lower level, they get more motion back, more youth, they become more productive, less of a burden, they can do more work. So every little bit helps, but a cure is possible, and they're on the threshold of it now.

You are then doing better now than someone who would have had this happen to him five years ago? Five years ago I wouldn't have survived the accident or I would have died of complications. Today we're standing here talking about a cure. I'm a very lucky guy. And let's explain what is going on with you now. What is the apparatus? What is the chair? This chair is a what? A $40,000 chair? Yeah, it is, but I can drive it myself. Self-motorized? And I can do some pretty good speed on it too. I can really cruise. Get going. Yeah, my son likes to hop on me. He's a go-kart.

You have no feeling below the neck? Oh yes, I have increased feeling below the neck. My left leg, for example, recently, I would say I've got about 75% feeling in my left leg is really coming back. Wow. I also have feeling down my spine more than I used to have down to about the L5 area which is really quite low and see I work out I mean in rehab it's like boot camp and I really work and I still work at home. Like doing what? Well I do exercise in what we call a tilt table where you can experience what it's like to bear weight you know practically stand up vertically on this trapezoid table and I do something called a Regis cycle which has been very kindly donated to me.

Where I'm on a bicycle and electrodes are strapped to me and my legs are going around. And I'm getting the muscular workout and the aerobic workout. I take a very proactive view. You know, I want to be ready when they find a cure. I don't want to be too weak to stand up and go anywhere. And you want to be right there online to get it. That's right. The apparatus that breathes for you, explain how that works because I've talked to others that have told me of this condition and their breathing is farther apart than yours and some longer breaths Well, what's happening with me is I'm on a ventilator and that provides me with breath It's breathing for you Yeah, although part of my job and part of what I'm going to do is I'm going to get rid of this thing and kick it out the window too I'm already at the point where on November 1st I could not take one breath, not one.

And now I'm at the point I can go 90 minutes off this ventilator by myself. And I work at it three times a day. I do breathing sessions where I just work. How are you able to do that? Willpower. And what they do, they take the hose off. And I know one guy, a friend of mine actually, that a technique was called breathe or die just to take it off and just take it in. Now my diaphragm which for six months did absolutely nothing it got weaker and weaker is now starting to strengthen and I'm working on exercises to strengthen it even more if it is to the point where it hopefully will kick in autonomically and I will be able to breathe on my own that is my goal and I will do that. Since there is paralysis, Chris, and we go back a long way, Chris, we go back pre-Superman, do you feel pain when you try to take this breath on your own?

So what is the feeling? The feeling is of joy that I'm making progress. But there must be some pressure to do it. It is harder work than walking up Mount Everest with a backpack on. I mean, it's like, it is unbelievably difficult and particularly psychologically difficult because you know how far you have to go. But on the other hand, you know, I used to think I should find some challenges in life. Pop fly, piece of cake compared to this. However, I see this as a real opportunity to see how far I can go. And C2, that's the second cervical vertebrae that I broke.

You see, you can't breathe. If you break C4 which is less than an inch further down you breathe. But the doctors are scratching their heads because of C2 I'm starting to breathe. And how do they explain it? Because I may have some innervation of the lower level. I may be what's called incomplete where you can move down a level and start to get innervation of the nerves slightly lower Now I should explain, the reason I have these pauses in between there shouldn't be any pauses on TV, I know I love it It's a good time to jump in The reason is that we do it No, in fact, let's do it, this is called the grabber, you know this Chris Reeve will now explain pausing.

He opens with a pause. The reason is that the ventilator delivers air. And I can only talk while that air is filling my lungs. And then when it's out, I have to wait until the next breath to come in. But that's why it gives you a chance to change the subject or what? Is it frustrating? It was at first because when I was in the hospital in intensive care I could not move below my jaw and I couldn't even speak, couldn't do anything. And so I'm at the point now I can move my shoulders, I can move my lats. I'm making progress and to be able to communicate is really frustrating. What's the little click we hear?

The little click is something called a peep valve. Which usually you see on 42nd Street but... Same old Chris Reeve, nothing changes personality. No, the peep valve is just letting air out and keeping back pressure in my lungs. It's just that little click, but everything's okay, don't worry. Before we discuss insurance and government and things people can do. You don't remember the accident at all? It's funny how the psyche and the body shut down when you're in real crisis. My mind shuts down at odd moments anyway. What do you remember about that day?

I remember warming up. I remember getting my horse ready to warm up for the cross country. It's a three day event. There's three phases. I'd already done dressage and then we do cross country. And then later the next day would be show jumping, it's all three phases. So, um, and this was down in Culpeper, Virginia, a beautiful place. In the cross country. Yes, there's loads of them down there. Anyway. The passport. I remember getting my horse ready for cross country and you put on all your stuff, including a serious crash helmet, including a test protector.

And mind you, this is something I've been doing for years. In fact, I was third in the New England champion just last year. Not to brag, but this is not something you do for a whim on a Sunday afternoon. I was prepared and ready. And I had a wonderful horse. I still love him. His name is Eastern Express. Do you see him? He's gone to one of the best trainers in New England, Jim Stamets. And unfortunately, he's for sale, so then we'll be riding anytime right away, but uh, he's under the best of care. Anyway, I uh, I hopped on and uh, the next thing I remember is about four or five days after the accident coming to an hospital. Now this is is a key to help me with this.

When you open your eyes, you're in a hospital. What's your first thought? It can't be me. Do you think you fell off a horse? No recollection of that. I'm very lucky. The first thing I remember is my wife Dana coming to my side and I opened my eyes and there Dana was. And uh... No feelings? My situation, no, are you kidding? I was snowed.

I was on every drug they've ever concocted plus a few more. Did she tell you what happened? They had to keep me in track. The main thing about the spine, you want to prevent swelling. And swelling is a naphthamus. Swelling makes it worse. And if you move, if you move at all, you're in big, big trouble. That's why getting somebody off the field like that is critical. And I'm very lucky. You would have lost me there.

But fortunately, as I went over the horse's bridle and it came off with me. So he suddenly refused to jump unfortunately and I went down with my hands tangled. So all I, normally this would have been a sprained wrist and me being mad and that's it. This is very, very odd and very unusual. But anyway, I woke up in a hospital about Wednesday and I injured myself on Saturday. No anger towards the horse? No anger towards the horse, no I was surprised. I mean he had never done that before. He was my new horse, I mean he had been doing cross country for at least 12 very experienced tours. And there are conflicting reports as to what happened. Some people say that a rabbit suddenly ran out from the underbrush.

And that spooked him for a second. You know, we're going fairly fast here. This is cross country. You're not hanging about. You're galloping the jumps, not cantering them. So, we were cruising right along, and he just suddenly put on the brakes. And this is what I'm told. And I did a, you know, I did a field goal through his ears. I took a bridle with me.

When your wife told you what happened and the condition you were in, were they directly honest with you? Did they tell you what had happened? Well, oh yes, and the thing was they didn't, they were working out at that time what to do because there's a lot of different disagreements about what you do to some... The first thing they had to do is they had to stabilize my spine so I was there in traction with screws in my head and a big heavy sort of ball kind of holding me down so I couldn't move and I couldn't eat anything they washed my mouth out occasionally with a little orange and raspberry swab you know I thought I was done for and the thing is the doctor I was I had one of the greatest surgeons in the world Dr. John Jane and I'm very lucky that I ended up there instead of like he's elbows in place you know and he performed a really miraculous operation that allows me to be Recovering the way I am today, but they weren't sure they said, you know, you we can't guarantee anything 50-50 we'll see he's here and he'll be here a long time and we'll be right back with Christopher Reeve on Larry King live. Don't go away We're back with Christopher Reeve, what do you do with initially anger or bitterness or what do you do with that?

Um, yeah between 2 and 7 in the morning when I couldn't sleep in intensive care. I called Dr. Connors, those are the demon hours when you kind of rehash everything you think. I've always been, you know, more coordinated than that. How did I trip over my shoelaces and have such severe consequences. And I also feel bad for other people that I've inconvenienced because an injury like this really involves an entire family and friends and everybody. No whiny? Oh, well, sure there's whiny, but then again things happen. There are people, why should I be exempt? You know, you look around and anything can happen to anybody at any time.

That's why, a little segue here, but that's why I get into the insurance issue is that you know anything can happen to anybody and everyone's entitled to be prepared to you know to deal with catastrophic costs like this. Now this can happen to anybody anywhere it doesn't have to be off a horse. No. It could be anything. What does a poor person what does a person without insurance. Oh my god you know I was at Kessler Institute for Rehab and there were a lot of people there, their insurance ran out, they just got booted out. Before they were medically ready to go home, they just had no choice.

Some of them end up in nursing homes just staring out the window the rest of their lives because there's no rehab. What insurance do you have? Is it called catastrophic? I had an insurance policy that was prepared for by my union when I worked in television all those years ago. After? Yeah. But my care cost $400,000 a year. And there's a cap because you see being vent dependent I need someone around 24 hours a day. Because let's say my wife has to take our son to the pediatrician to leave the house or whatever.

If this vent were to pop off I'm gone in three minutes. You know I can only breathe in certain positions and there were times when I was in the rehab center when I experienced that when the vent comes off in the middle of the night and you just have to hope somebody comes and gets you. Now if there's nobody there, if there's no nurse there, you're gone and you know I need that 24 hour health care, well that costs a lot of money, a lot of money and the equipment, the wheelchairs, all the stuff. Now the point is the cap, most people don't know that there's a cap on their insurance. If you look at your policy though, you'll be shocked to find that it's probably about a million dollars. Now in 1970, a million dollars would take you a long way.

Now in today's money, a million, that's only worth a hundred thousand dollars. So the problem is, okay, the insurance companies say, well, the rising care, the rising health cost, you know, that's astronomical. But they're doing very well. If you actually look at the salaries of a lot of the people who work for insurance companies, they're doing fine. They won't need a benefit. No, and the point is, very few people actually need this kind of lifetime insurance. It's not going to break these companies. Believe me, you're talking 2,500, maybe 3,000 people a year.

So what's your thought? Well, my thought is you've got to raise the cap. That's why I support the Cheffers Amendment. To the Kats and Kennedy Bill, S1028. You're going to testify for that too, I understand. I'm going to testify for that. I'm going to testify for raising caps. And primarily what I want to testify for is the fact that if you invest now a little bit of money in research, you're going to save billions in Medicaid and Medicare very soon. Now, many of these politicians are afraid to spend money on research because you can't guarantee a result. Okay, ten years ago, maybe, eh, you know, it would have been a little bit very iffy. But now, in 1995, the scientists are standing there ready, willing, and able. They know what to do. They know how to put me back together again.

That's right, this happened to you in 95, now we're in 96, and by 2000, one would bet research is going to produce something. The real maverick science, say within three years, I think it's going to be closer to seven or ten years. It all depends on the funding. Now the private sector and the public, and the government have to work together. And it's all this talk now about Medicaid, Medicare, and cuts, whatever. Let me give you an example. Right now the government spends 8.7 billion dollars a year on Medicaid payments to people who qualify or are spinal cord injured. But they don't cure them. They just keep them sitting there, just keep them ticking over, just making the payments. If you were to spend, if the government were to spend 40 million a year, over the next 10 years, that's a total of 400 million, you'd have the cure.

We'll hold it right there and come right back with Christopher Reeve. Don't go away. In times, there's an 800 number for the American Paralysis Association. It's 1-800-225-0292. I'll repeat it as well. 1-800-225-0292. People who call that number for what? To get information and hopefully to give to the American Paralysis Association. Contribute. Yeah, I'm on the board. I've joined the board of them because they are the best organization. The reason they are is because they are, they have founded a consortium. And actually, they're meeting all the top scientists in the world.

They're meeting right now, even as we speak, out at UC Irvine at the new center, which has been very fortunate as well. It's been named in my honor actually. No kidding. Yeah, the Reeve Irvine Research Center is going to be dedicated to really pushing scientists who have been working in dark laboratories by themselves, very underfunded, underappreciated, and this very generous woman, Joan Irvine Smith. You talk about the private sector taking initiative, well, I'll tell you what happens. Because after the accident I never blamed my horse. She decided to kick in a million dollars of her own money to raise horses.

She found this center to be matched by state money and by other funds. Wow. In a couple of years it's going to be a six million dollar chair. It's going to be endowed to push ahead to find a cure for a high quad like me. Just because you didn't blame your horse. Because I didn't blame them or worse, people stick together. You call yourself a high quad? Yeah, a high quad means C1, C2, you can't break it any higher than that. When you were okay... I mean, when I do it, I do it fully, I go all out.

I know, Chris, I know, you don't, it's not half way. I don't waste any time. When you were okay, do you remember back to what you would think when you saw people in wheelchairs? I have to admit that you'd think, oh boy, I'm glad it's not me. The effort for the grace of God. A lot of people don't like to look at people in wheelchairs. Oh, I'm willing to look. You know, it's odd how people... Turn away? No. People walk in and I can sense, like, oh, I don't know how we're going to talk to them or what to do.

And they're immediately put at ease. I can sense that they get over it very quickly. I've never seen anybody feel awkward. I've had many, many visitors come and quickly they just look past the chair. Did you ever think, as you thought in the last movie you did when you were in a wheelchair, and that was a great suspense movie by the way, they ought to show that a hundred million times, a wild movie, but in that movie you were feigning to be someone who wanted to take his own life because he'd given up hope. Okay?

Now, what now? I mean, unbelievable. Go figure. Did you ever think of not wanting to live? about 10 minutes when I first was in the intensive care. And when I first realized what my situation was, I thought maybe I'm too much trouble. Maybe this will just be too hard on everybody. Maybe I should just check out. And my wife, my beautiful, extraordinary wife Dana, put the end to it with one sentence.

She said, but you're still you and I love you. That's the story. And then my three children came in, Matthew, Alexander, and Will, and our family was together. And I thought, no way I'm going to miss this. This is my family. So now you don't feel like you're putting... Oh, never. I've never even thought about it since May... 26th. Whatever, well, no, I was in June 1st, whatever, you know, whenever, uh, Wednesday was.

Because once you decided the family loves you, you love them, this is a partnership, there was no more going back. No, and you know what you learn, a lot of people have been in chairs longer than me can tell you better. But you learn that the stuff of your life, I mean I was a sailor, I was a skier, I was a rider, I did a lot of stuff, a lot of actions, very sports oriented, etc. That is not the definition or the essence of your existence. What is the essence are those relationships with people in that room, they're right there. And while my relationships were always good, now they've transcended. My son and I, and my wife and I, you know, so that's why I can honestly say I'm a lucky man. We're only halfway through, back with more of Christopher Reeve. I don't know why, but people thought in your community that regarding you, money would not be a problem. That either, either you were wealthy or...

Have you seen my career lately? No, but you were a horse person, Culpepper. Virginia, Chris Reeve is okay. Well, I tell you what, I made some really bad investments in the 80s. Is this breaking you? It would if I couldn't find work, absolutely, yeah. You are going to find work? I am going to find work. But the thing is we have to completely redo my house. Otherwise I'm stuck in two rooms. That's not much of a future.

What kind of work? We've got an elevator. You know how expensive an elevator is? You ever try to put an elevator in? I don't recommend it. It's about 70,000 bucks. We have a lot to do. What kind of work are you going to do? Well, I'm going to direct. I'm actually going to write a book.

I'm going to give speeches around the country, I'm not going to sit home and watch grass grow. All those things. I've already in motion now, in fact we started on a book, I'm very lucky in that I have a great co-author, Roger Rosenblatt. The best, one of the great essayists in America. And I said to him, why would you, a writer of your distinction, why would you want to, you know, help me write my story in the first person and he said to me it'd be an honor So go figure but we're having a wonderful time he comes over a tape recorder Right now we work once a week and he just listens and stuff comes out of me. This is an autobiography Well, it's the story of my life so far. Yeah, what about the Robin Williams story and his help? Robin Williams is the definition of generosity he and Marcia. Are you all friends? In 22 years? we go back to back to Juilliard together and uh the man again just defines generosity he said whatever I can do to help but there is this crazy cockamamie story that went around that we had signed some pact.

Pact? Yeah like what on a napkin in the cafeteria in Juilliard or something. Saying what? That if either of us gets in trouble that we'll take care of each other? Hey listen, I'm going to help myself. I'm going to take care of myself the best I can. Because the one thing you want when you're injured, you ask anybody who's injured, you ask them if they've got a problem. You want control and you want your self-respect. You don't want to take charity. So how do you feel when it's given to you?

Well, I feel very grateful if it's a charity that I can accept. When I feel that in some way I can pay the person back or whatever. So you owe Robin Williams some kind of debt? I... just an emotional debt, I mean a huge debt of friendship. How about... as of yet I don't owe him a nickel and I like to keep it that way. How about other people and people's reaction to... we were a little surprised by the worldwide attention this got. Stunned, because basically I was hanging out in Bedford, New York where we lived training my horse six days a week to be ready for these competitions and you forget that there's a big world outside because my wife and I really enjoyed the fact that we have a new little guy Will our little fella and we didn't want to bring him up in the city after 20 years we enjoy the city but we also like our privacy in the country so in a way you know I go off to work but I kind of forget that anybody's watching. I sort of forget.

So you thought you were a forgotten actor? Not a forgotten actor, but not the kind of public figure who has a problem going down the street like a Mel Gibson or something. So you were shocked? So, well, when I got 300,000 letters from people all over the world, the outpouring of love and sympathy and concern and caring, I was blown away, I must say. That's what got me through those days. What I used to do down in University of Virginia when I was in intensive care. They let me get up one hour a day to get used to being upright in a wheelchair.

And that's pretty heavy duty because your blood pressure falls apart and you really feel weird, etc. But they'd wheel me down in the sunroom, you know, and I'd sit there with a blanket like a little old man. And my family would read me these letters from around the world and that kept me going. The love of my family and the support of people around the world is just, you know. Does Chris Reeve, the Chris Reeve I know of, is not an emotional person? Or if he is, he certainly holds it in. Well. Agreed? I guess so, yeah. You ha, I mean one could not picture Chris Reeve weeping. I don't, I don't, no, not on an interview show. No. But in, when you're sitting in that sunroom, I mean that's got to, how about the president, the president contact you?

Oh yeah, a very funny story happened as a matter of fact. He finally wrote me a letter because he was trying to call and I was going to call my wife at a certain time. And just at the time my sister called from Albuquerque. And my wife said, oh great, great to hear but you got to get off the phone, the president's calling. And she said, yeah sure, so how are you doing? Well I said, no get off, the president's calling. And finally she just wouldn't get off and the president missed the call. So what did you do? He couldn't get through. Oh, he sent me a letter of support.

He even remembered my birthday and we've been talking. I've been sending him some of my thoughts about health insurance reform and about the insurance caps and about the problems. a problem. Research is a way to cut all these incredible expenses of Medicare. And they're right there. I mean, they're such wonderful people. Is he going to back you? He does back me. And he will back you on this appearance when you appear before the Hill. He supports this concept of the bill? He supports that bill to the best of my understanding, yes, absolutely. And the Jefferson Amendment too. It's got bipartisan support, like all good things should have.

We'll be right back with Christopher Reeve. Don't go away. Where the mic is, because he doesn't feel the mic. It's on the sweater. Right? Thank you very much. Trust me, it's there. You want funding for spinal cord injuries. How prominent is this? Well, it's been a neglected disease for a long time.

How many people have it? Right now, 250,000, about 1,100 every year. And the sad thing is it's a lot of the best and brightest people, it's athletes. Yeah, that's right. Happens to them. Young people, you know, and a lot of them are... You have about 40% the victim of crimes, you have a lot of people also just work-related accidents. Women? More men than women, actually. No pun intended, but supermen, a lot of them young young athletes, skiers, crashing the trees Travis Roy, my heart goes out to him, a hockey player for Boston College by the way on the plane that never landed when I went back to Boston, had a drive here today folks someone from Boston University wants to know if you would contact that young man absolutely, I've just been waiting until it's an appropriate time when they're ready to hear from you.

He's just been moved too. He's going to go down to Shepherd down in Atlanta. I think he's there now. Just went to Shepherd. And it was a young hockey player. His father was a great hockey player. He played all his life. His first 30 seconds. First 30 seconds of play. He's paralyzed.

He's in the boarder and he's paralyzed. He's a C4 cloud, just a little bit lower than me. Can you explain what paralysis is like? Well, paralysis is obviously... Like your hands. You can't move No I can't move below my shoulders I mean I could shrug my shoulders Does your brain want to move them? Yeah absolutely but you know at some point you have to wait until they make the connection Okay What you have to imagine is like a telephone repairman and he's out there all the cables are broken There's no color coding and he doesn't have a diagram and at some point he's got to try to put them all back together Once he gets the cables back together again, things start moving.

Now his old reflexes with which the brain went to the finger and moved the finger, and that's less than a year ago, they're there, aren't they? Everything works. We're just waiting for the phone man. Well put. But that could drive you nuts, couldn't it? It could drive you nuts, but why let it drive you nuts? What you have to do is... So what do you do? Well, you just don't go nuts for good thing. Now what can I do? I think the only way to go through life in any situation, whoever you are, whatever your situation is, you look at your assets and say what do I got that I can use? Well, fortunately, thanks to my helmet I don't have any brain damage.

My brain is whatever it was. And there's a lot that I can do. And so what I do is I've had to learn. The hardest thing is I was just an active person. I mean I was really up and at them doing a lot of things. I've had to accept being still and what's kind of interesting is that at night in my dreams I mean I go everywhere I go I'm whole and I'm still whole now I mean at least in my head but I was all in one piece and I go on wonderful trips and journeys and with my wife and family we do things it's wonderful. My hardest moment is about 7.30 a.m. when Phil Phelps... However, I'm living at a time when this can be fixed. I would have hated, I mean I feel sorry for Kent Waldrop who is a wonderful guy I've met. Football player back in 1975 he was injured and think how long he's been... Nick Funakani.

Nick Funakani, I mean Mark Funakani, wonderful guy. I was at the MC the first dinner. All of them have been an inspiration to me. And I'm very lucky as I'm sitting here at a time when we are closer to the cure than we've ever been if the funding would have come through. What about sexual feelings? They're there. I'm like a high school senior. What do you do with that? Well, my wife knows it and she gets a lot of attention. I mean, she walks to the room and I'm practically leering at her, I mean it's really embarrassing.

What do you do with it though? Well, fortunately, it's an autonomic reflex. Oh. That's still... So it works. Yeah. Hey! One great thing to hear, right? Plus the fact, you know, that thing has a mind of its own. That's true.

Now you've learned that, right? You've been assessed for that, right? Food, eating, you eat anything? Now I eat like a chowhound. Before I'll tell you a terrible thing happened. And from the day of my accident until about six weeks ago, I was never hungry and my sense of smell was so intense I couldn't stand the sight of food or the smell. Any kind of food was just really repugnant and they fed me through a tube. At night I'd be fed through a tube and the mis-eating was really terrible. Now I come home and the wonderful food Dana prepares, being home, the family atmosphere, and I'm cleaning the plate start to finish.

All kinds of food, you could eat anything? You name it. I just had sushi for lunch, as a matter of fact, it's lovely. Back with more of Christopher Reeve. And the phone number, by the way, to help the American Paralysis Association, for more information is 1-800-225-0292. Don't go away. to People have done that for me all my life.

No. I read it. I'm eye maintenance. Go into the booth, fly away. Okay. What do they do? Well, what happens is in order to keep my voice, you know, going, is that I have to have the breathing tube in exactly the right position or the voice will disappear. And that's one of the reasons that, you know, we're a little on a tape delay here is because I was afraid that I could be out there live at nine o'clock and suddenly...

You would have happily done this live. Uh... Now you might. Yes, we're getting to that point. I'm not quite there yet. So they go in and do what? Make sure the trach... the trach... the tube is in the right position. And they tell me back because... You see, not being able to move, your skin breaks down. You can shift your position, but I can't. So the skin breaks down.

And that's a very serious problem. In fact, I've had a wound for... since about July that was down to the bone they were gonna operate on but fortunately I with high protein so in other words they cured it now yeah my skin is replenishing in a sense it's getting a break it's keeping from being overly irritated and breaking down okay your skin is breaking down if I don't move and so they come over moving moving around and every night this is a fun part I've got to get slipped like a pancake every two hours. What? Every two hours. Say goodnight and then every two hours come in and flip you.

Flip you meaning turn you over? From 90 degrees from one side to 90 degrees on the other side. Yeah, and you learn to kind of keep through it. But that's why you never get a full night's sleep ever. You know, it's uh... You mentioned earlier, if that thing pops out you got three minutes of life. Well, yeah, about that, yeah. Now that's something I would constantly live in fear of. I did I'm getting over it though But one of the things though is I like to see nurses wear sneakers So they can run down the hall faster if I've got a problem What do you do with and it's obvious you I know you're very jovial and you're really handling this great And you're certainly gonna help a lot of people. What do you do with the obvious depression that occurs?

I don't suffer depression in my family. No medication. I Have never been on antidepressant medication since day one. Never. Not once. It's just something that... If you met my family, you'd understand. You mean family going back to... If you met my wife, my three children, my parents, I mean, you'd understand. It's just not done. No, I've had moments when I get jealous. Jealous?

Of people, you know, I'm just going to run upstairs and get something, and I go like, well, I'd like to do that. But I don't dwell on it. Again, because I think the cure is coming soon. And I'm in a position to help the cure come faster. I can actually do something. I'm not, I'm not some guy sitting in the corner. I can testify in front of Congress. I can raise money. I can raise awareness.

No deep blue moves. No, not since that five minutes in Virginia when I told you about earlier. Seriously, I mean, I'm not kidding you. I would tell you if it was true. Do you miss acting? Do I miss acting? Yes I do. I think I was just getting the hang of it. And uh... So I do miss it because I remember doing an interview a couple years ago where I said now that I'm in my 40s and I think in the next couple decades I'm going to do some of my best work and I really look forward to it. But what we're going to do is just shift gears.

I'm going to move into directing, unfortunately. You will direct film? Yeah. And plays? Yeah, and plays. Those offers are already coming in. What? For both? For both. Yeah, a lot of offers are coming in. I'm very grateful, for example, to Keith Samples and David Kirkpatrick. I was supposed to be directing a movie in October, this past October, and right when I was injured, they took an ad out in Variety and said, this movie will not be given to anyone else. It's for him when he's ready.

That's loyalty for you. We'll be back with our remaining moments with Christopher Reeve right after this. A man in a wheelchair, your last role you do. I've been offered actually a couple. The problem with a lot of parts in wheelchairs is that either the guy's a villain or a pathetic. And what we need to see are more parts like Don Voight had in coming home you see a real person of dimension and I think that will happen you know as people realize this is a fact of life we do have a difficult time with it do we not? yeah I have to admit you did before now that you've seen it from both sides what do you what can you say first to people who can walk and run and jump when they see someone I'd say first of all be grateful you can walk and run and jump so be grateful be aware of it enjoy yourself while you're walking, running and jumping.

And know that it could go away. Yeah, it can go away to anybody. It can happen to anybody. And what do you say to people who have just gotten into this? Someone watching tonight who just got in a chair. Well, I'm going to give you an example. You will feel, why me? You will feel life is unfair. unfair you'll feel thoughts that you know you maybe it's not worth it and be brave push through it you'll come out the other side and turn to people I mean I'm getting all kinds of calls now from people who are in that situation and want to know what to do I went back to the rehab center to go visit some people who are you know stuck and wanted help and if you turn to people who have gone to the other side you see that it can be done.

Do you have faith? Yes I do have faith. I wear a chain, I mean it doesn't, it used to get stuck around my neck. And get in the way of my trachea so I took it off. And that chain, my wife wears it all the time. Together with my wedding ring which doesn't fit on my finger anymore. The chain is what? It just says faith and it's my wedding ring, you know, and uh... Oh. Now you just moved your leg?

No, that's just, it moved by itself. What that is... What was that? It's my body saying like, hey brain, let's go. Wait, your body is saying, hey brain, let's go? That's right.