NAME: Christopher Reeve

AGE: The count stopped at 52

NATIONALITY: American

CLAIM TO FAME: An on-screen Superman who was an off-screen man of steel

FOR a man who was so severely injured that he stopped breathing for three minutes and his head had to be reattached to his spinal column resulting in paralysis from the neck down, to dream of walking is really wishing for the impossible. But if any one could have turned impossible into the inevitable, it was Christopher Reeve, the 6-foot-4 star of the Superman movies — sadly his dream ended before he could progress towards his dream.

The real life man of steel died of cardiac arrest on October 9, leaving behind hope and inspiration for others suffering from paralysis like him.

Though becoming a superstar after portraying the title role in the 1978, Superman and its subsequent sequels, Reeve made a bigger impact on the public consciousness after being paralyzed in May 1995, following an equestrian accident. Thereon, Reeve could not breathe without the help of a ventilator and could definitely not move from neck down. He was told he would live like that for the rest of his life. However, through a strenuous workout regimen, to make his limbs stronger, by 1997 he regained some feelings in his limbs and he could move his index finger. In 2003, he had an experimental device implanted in his diaphragm allowing him to draw breath on his own for hours at a stretch for the first time since his accident.

Reeve championed breakthrough research in spinal cord injury, offering himself as a guinea pig for new therapies. In an interview he once said: “I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don’t mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery.”

He used his Hollywood superstar status to gain attention and funding for scientific study of disabilities like his and to lobby for looser restrictions on stem-cell research. He took his celerity status and turned it into a legacy. He established Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and with the aim of increasing public awareness about spinal cord injury and raise money for research, Reeve made his first public appearance just four months after his accident. In 1996, he accepted invitation to appear at the Academy Awards, to host the Paralympics in Atlanta, to speak at the Democratic Convention, subsequently returning to acting and directing.

He was a strong advocate for stem-cell research into various medical conditions. In 2001, he joined scientists in a lawsuit aimed at overturning a US government decision to stop funding the controversial testing. In 2002, Reeve urged President Bush and Catholic church leaders to reassess their opposition to research that might free him and others like him from their wheelchairs. During a recent presidential debate, Sen. John Kerry said Reeve’s struggle is one of the reasons he favours stem cell research.

While the years between his Superman blockbusters and accident were filled with limited roles and average critical acclaim, his post-disability Hollywood ventures have been much applauded. He returned to acting in the made-for-TV movie A Step Toward Tomorrow in 1996. The following year, he made his directorial debut with in The Gloaming, which received five Emmy nominations. In 1998 Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor for his performance in a remake of The Rear Window, about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbour has been murdered. Reeve’s portrayal of the character was all the starker for his real-life disability. The courageous man was directing an animated film about his beloved Yankees at the time of his death.

Had Christopher Reeve lived longer, one wonders how many improbable dreams he would have realized. He lived his screen role in real life. — Ambreen Arshad