Category: Let's talk
Life span and pressure sores. The average life span for his level of injury is 7 years. Christopher Reeve lived for 9 years. What killed him was a pressure sore that got infected. NOT a heart attack. Star
BEDFORD, New York (AP) -- Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs, told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night. Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound that he developed, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.
Yeah thats what I heard too. But that's not exactly what I'll say here.
Christopher Reeve is a self-centered asshole who only did all those things (devoted his life to helping paralyzed people) because he was a millionare. And, the only reason so many people payed attention to him at all was because he was a famous actor. An average person like you or me would never have got all that publicity. No one would pay any attention to somebody whose just living their life.
The other thing I want to say, is that Im not against stemcell research, but i do disagree with taking the stem sells from embryos. Howevr, Im not against taking adult stem cells. (You can probably tell that Im anti abortion too but thats another thing which i wont go into here.)
dont you think its sick and rather convenient to insult a man who is unable to defend himself,
Yes he had money, yes he had the fame and people listened when ordinarily they wouldnt have bothered,but without him bringing disability issues out in to the open and lets face it how popular are they without a celebrity's interest no matter how self serving and shallow that may be,where would we be? hmm stuck with no progress being made what so ever!.
Stem cell research is vital and i for 1 am all for it, both Louis and Alasdair's cells were harvested in the hope that if they suffer a serious illness the cells can be used if not as a cure then to least reduce their suffering and improve their quality of life.
But you failed to look at that side and focused instead on insulting a man who has achieved a hell of a lot in his life,then maybe thats the problem.
I will have to agree with niblet. Reeve ever since his accident had one thing in mind: to be able to walk again. All his efford was focused on that ONE part of his life. Now, what message does this give to others with similar injuries? That being disabled, paralyzed, unable to walk is horrible. What does that mean? That people who don't have Reeve's fnancial ability should better give up on life as they will never afford (money wise) to ever walk again. In other words Reeve never saw him self as a 'whole' person unless he could walk. He never saw himself as a 'normal' person unless he could walk. Every day for Reeve was one step (one wheelcair roll) closer to walking again. His message was: I am worthless unless I am walking. That is a horrible message. It degrades people with disabilities. It is like someone coming up to anyone who is blind and asking "what did you do today to ensure that one day you will be able to see again?" or "why don't you try all these new operations etc to so you can see again?" I never liked Reeve. I am not happy he is dead because he had a wife and kids, but I am glad that his selfish ass is not promoting his stupid beliefs anymore. Stemcell research was for Reeve one MORE step closer to walking again, and THAT was the ONLY reason he promoted and supported it. Sorry, but this is the bitter truth. Star
This subject has degenerated in to nothing more than a sick game of 1 upmanship which i want no part of
lets leave the supposition to the gossip collums.
No one made you Goblin part of this. And by coinsidence as fas as I can remember you didn't like Reeve either. At least that is what you said in a topic discussion back when you were on E-pals (eye2eyes). I can understand that you now want to voice the popular opinion in your quest of new friends here. That's OK with me, but keep your partonizing remarks to your self.
Star your absolutely right i cant believe that so many people supported Reeve just because he was supposedly helping people. I can see that maybe, sometime in the far far future, the things he did might have a benifit on others, but he only wanted one thing: to walk again. Thats all he wanted and your absolutely right. This is why disabled people should remain as much a part of the world in the future as they are today, because without them society is going to fear disability even more. If operations and new procedures are invented to cure or even prevent disability, then its sending the message that disability is wrong and unacceptable. This is just one of the many problems with our society today.
I guess the moral of the story is that money can't buy everything, no matter how hard u try. I guess super man wasn't so super afterall, huh? I just feel bad for his wife and kids, but hopefully this has taught them a lesson of some sort.
This has little to do with an actor desperate to walk however it has everything to do with the fact that any newly disabled person will do anything to regain what they have lost,before the process of acceptance begins unfortunately some never reach that point, they are fixated on regaining a semblance of their mobility or sight ect,its utterly ludicrous to bad mouth people for acting perfectly normally.
when 5 of my fingers were shattered all i thought about was how will survive without full use of my hands,the idea of always needing help and being even in the smallest way, dependent on another to eat or dress frightened the feckin life out of me,is that crazy or selfish, no its perfectly bloody normal.
Newly disabled??? Excuseme but living 9 years on a wheelchair with a vent is NOT newly at all. Maybe if his obsession was limited within the first couple of years of his disability I would say "OK, he needs time to adjust" but after 9 years his mentality was still stuck on the fact that he couldn't walk.
typical what i said was wtisted completely out of context
how long did it take until you could accept yourself and let me see what was it 200 pounds! I know even now that you are embroiled in self hatred,maybe C.R. felt the same maybe he felt about 6 inches tall sitting in that chair, i know i would going from being fit active and independent then overnight reduced to the life sentence of quadraplegia would be the ultimate nightmare.Some never come to terms with disability and find release either in suicide or in a desperate and futile quest of a cure,should we condemn them as insulting those dealing with paralysis ect NO! Because they are in deep mental anguish and i find it incomprehensible that you cannot understand such mental upheaval.
ya know all I gotta say is here we go again. It's always gotta be a argument between two people. My take on things: Now how do I put this in words without stepping on toes. I'm for stem cell research, not for me, but for those who might be in someone elses shoes to fight cancer. Or other illnesses. Sometimes it takes a public figure or a celeberty to give us the boost we need. Yeah the message was kinda selfish but the way he brought the message out was just unbelieveable. How many people will go out to that extreme to help the ill or the disabled? Not a whole lot. In fact without their help we'd be pushed aside unless you can think of someone who's not A List to give us a boost and that would probally be either someone who's devoted to this cause and or a doctor or whomeever it might be. Do I want to go through operations like the silican chip implant to save whatever sight I have from RP? No of course not. Because I've already accepted and adapted to the RP that it is now apart of my life. Yes my sight is going slowly but the RP has bought me time to prepare for the big day when I do loose my sight alltogether. I'm not taking steps to save my sight and that might hurt people when I say this. I'm taking steps to ensure myself that when I do go totally blind I will have the skills necessary to still be independant, to be able to enjoy my life with less teruma possible. But yes I do agree with the message that all he wanted to was walk again. But I think he also knew that even though he might not get that chance, the research can probally further someone's life, or help them walk to some degree.
Goblin maybe you are confusing this topic with some other one? The issue we are discussing here in this topic is about Reeve and his inability to accept his disability. What does your talking about me has to do with this? I do not have a disability that I need to accept and I have never had a problem accepting myself or who I am. You must be confusing me with someone else you know. Cheers, Star
Blindvi, you have put into words what I was tryig to say. You have a healty attitude towards your PR. You have past the stage of denial and avoidance are now accepting it and doing the best you can to be ready to deal with blindness when it comes. Reeve, never accepted his situation fully. If he had he would have never agreed to that TV commercial that showed him walking again and he would have never wasted so much money to have his body artificially stand up with the help of electronic technology. He would have said "No, I am who I am and the wheelchair I am sitting in is a part of me now". Yes, it is important to support stem cell research beause it can open doors to healing many illnesses and it is defiately the key to the future of medicine.
well we all know thats not true.
Hmm, interesting discussions definitely.
I definitely disagree on the fact that Reeves was a "self cenetered ass hole", and he did a lot for the scientific development and research that might, one day, help millions of people leading better lives. We need celebrities to push any sort of cause that is not immediately profitable, or at least to bring attention to it. I thnk his was a very important role in pushing the stem cell research along. I do admit I don't know much bout the man but I cannot imagine what he must have been through on his way to the wheel chair. I lost my sight at age of 5 and I clearly remember how difficult it was, yet I think it was infinitely easier for me to do it as a child than e.g. if it happened today. Blindvi though has got a very good point in that a disability does not make you worthless and you also have to be realistic and know when to learn to live with your disability instead of fighting it. Heck, I've met a few partially sighted people who still insist on walking unassisted and without canes and I've witnessed them walk smack into walls, due to their pride and unwillingness to accept their condition (and that's sometimes people who have been partially sighted, more or less, all their life). I will never accept fully having lost the sight that I have. I doesn't bother me, it doesn't make me depressed but I would jump at the chance to have sight restored with any reasonable gaurantee and at reasonable cost and I want to support those who research ways of bringing it about. Reeves with his money and celebrity status was actually able to push the research along much further than pretty much anyone else in his position and his motivation will one day help make someone's life much better. There is a delicate balance between acoming to terms with who you are and what your condition is and just accepting anythingwithout the will to try and change it. On which side of that line he was it's hard to say but everything I've read about him indicated he was a good man and I believe he was fighting for a cood cause, it may not have aided him much but it will aid others.
Well, your all making some good points here. I've been totally blind since birth so I've always accepted it, because I never knew what it was like to have sight, i guess thats why i cant really understand why Reeve had such a hard time coming to terms with his disability. But still, that commercial was completely wrong. i will never like Reeve, nor support stem cell research, but i can sort of understand that if you suddenly become disabled your immediate response is denial.