-- >> Yes, Right. Larry: Broke His Neck In A Horse Accident, But We Haven'T Heard About Him Or >From Him Or Anything, So It Sort Of Went Away. >> Yeah, That'S Too Bad. Larry: Why Did You Decide Not To Just Smell The Nowers? >> Oh, Boy, It'S Just --. Larry: That Would Have Been Easy. >> Well, There Are Really Only Two Choices, Either You Just Stare Out The Window And Do Nothing Or You, You Know, Try To Motivate And Activate. That'S The Only Way I Could Go. People Have Asked Me, Gee, How Do You Do It? Well, I Don'T Think It'S Really Such A Big Deal Because The Alternative Is Terrible. You Know, I Have Been An Actor For 27 Years, And It'S A Tough Profession. It Means A Lot Of Self-Discipline. You Have Got To Go And Do A Performance Eight Times A Week Even If You Don'T Feel Like It Until You Have To Go In There Wednesday Afternoon And Give The Audience Their Money'S Worth And You May Work On A Production For Months And It Bombs Or You Do A Movie And It Goes Down The Drain In A Weekend, So You Have Got To Rebound From That, So I Have Had A Lifetime Of Rebounding And Self-Discipline. And I Am Very Lucky. Larry: You'Re A Survivor. >> That Helps Me Deal With This Right Now. Larry: The Method Of Writing The Book, Since You Can'T Write-Write, How Is It Done? >> That Was Really A Challenge Because I Did It Orally. Larry: Dictated It? >> Yep. I Had A Wonderful Transcriber Named June Fox Sat Next To Me And I Said Don'T -- You Know, Don'T Write It At All. Just Let Me -- It Will Be Terrible. Just Let Me Let The Word Goes. Larry: You'D Never Written Had You? >> Oh, I'D Written In College, You Know, EnglishPapers, 20, 27 Years Ago. Larry: You Weren'T Going To Be A Novelist Or Journalist. >> Though Both My Parents Are Writers. >> You Played One Once In A Very Nin Movie. >> Yes. Larry: Burt Reynolds. >> I Would Just Let My Thoughts Flow And She'D Take It All Down Even Though It Was You Know, Total Garbage And Then Woe Would Look At It, Print It Out The Next Morning And Start To Shape It. And Gradually, It Started To Form, And Amazingly Enough, When We Really Got On A Roll, We Were Doing Six Pages A Day. Larry: And Then Was It Edited Much By Your Editors At The Publisher? >> Well, Believe It Or Not, I Honed It Before I Turned It In. I Wanted It To Be Virtually The Finished Product. And I Turned It In On December 10th, And They Only -- The Only Criticism They Had Was, They Wanted One Childhood Story They Thought Was Irrelevant To Be Taken Out. And That Was It. Larry: Was It Emotionally Difficult -- I Know You Have Had To Relive It By Talking About It. We Have Been On The Speakers -- We Were On The Same Thing With Peter Low, It Was You And Me On Tour. >> Exactly. Larry: Was It At All Emotionally Difficult? To Tell This All? >> It Was Therapeutic And Also Emotionally Difficult, Particularly In Sensitive Matters About My Family, But I Felt I Had To Be Honest. I Had To Be Matter Of Fact, Not Be Self-Pitying, But Be As Truthful As Possible, Otherwise, If You'Re Not Truthful, It'S A Waste Of Time. That'S One Thing I Have Learned. Larry: So That Part Was Difficult To Talk About Your Wife And Kids? >> Well, No, More My Childhood, You Know, To Talk About That In A Way That Was Accurate But Also Fair, And The Reason I Told It That Way Is Because Being Brought Up Between Two Families, I Really Found The Theater As My Family. And That'S Why I Became An Actor And I Felt It Was Important For The Audience To Understand My Development In That Way. But To Talk About, You Know, The Early Years, Some Of That Was Hard To Do. Larry: But A Lot Cathartic, Too, Right? >> Yes, A Lot Cathartic And I Also -- I Just Remembered Some Wonderful Stories, You Know. There Was A Story I Tell About The Summer I Spent At Harvard, And I Was 16, And I Was Having An Affair With An Acttress In The Company Who Was 23 And --. Larry: Old Lady? >> No, I -- That Was -- That Was An Odd Summer. Larry: Everything Is In This Book. He Just Sold Another 100,000 Copies, Read About The 23-Year-Old At Harvard. Our Guest Is Christopher Reeve. The Book From Random House Is "Still Me". Tomorrow Night In A Rare Full Television Appearance With Phone Calls, Reverend James Dobson Will Be With Us. We'Ll Be Right Back With More Of Christopher Reeve After This. In A Little While. You Might Want To Get Pencils Ready, We'Ll Give You An Address And A 800 Phone Number. Christopher Reeve As You Know Is An Activist. He'S Active With The American Paralysis Association, We'Ll Get Into All Of That Later, But Back To May 27th, 1995 -- By The Way When There'S Jumping On Television, When We See The Resauj Or The Olympics, Do You Watch? >> Yes, I Do. I Try To Keep Up With What Everybody'S Doing, Still Root For Them The Way I Always Have. Larry: No Bitterness? >> No. And You Know, A Wonderful Thing Happened Is, We Have Something Going Called The Reeve Irvine Research Center Out On The University Of California At Irvine. And It Was Endowed By Joan Irvine Smith. And She'S A Very Noted Trainer And The Reason That She Wanted To Start This Foundation Was Because I Didn'T Blame My Horse. Larry: Now, We Know You Didn'T Blame The Horse Publicly. You Never Blamed The Horse. There Had To Be A Moment When You Woke Up -- Some Blame Of The Horse Or Else You'Re Taking It All On Yourself. You Made A Mistake Then. If It Wasn'T The Horse, What Happened? >> Combination. It Always Is. It'S A Partnership. And The Lack Of Communication -- One Of Us Got Out Of Sync, You Know? And There Are Various Theories That -- Possibly A Ranit Ran Out, That There
Were Shadows, But Probably What Happened Is, See, He Took Off, You Know, He Lifted His Front Legs, And So I Went Forward, Which You'Re Supposed To Do At That Time, And Then He Put His Legs Back Down Again, And I Went Over The Top. Now, Why He Did That, I Don'T Know Exactly, But I May Have Thrown My Weight Forward A Little Too Soon, And Being As Heavy As I Am, That Would Be A Problem For Him. Larry: Where Is He Now, That Horse? >> I Think A Young Lady North Of Boston Is Riding Him And Doing Very Well. Larry: And -- >> Calm Of My Family Members Wanted To Shoot Him. I Said No Way, Let This Horse Have A Nice Life. Larry: Yeah. Could You Have Worn Something Protective, Anything, That Would Have Prevented It Even With The Fall? >> Yeah, You Know, They Ask You To Wear Chest Protectors. Larry: Glou Now They Wear Them. >> No I Always Wear A Chest Protector And Always Wear A Helmet But The One Thing That'S Unprotected Is The Neck. So What Really Should Be Worn Is --. Larry: Neck Brace? Into No It Should -- Like A Floatation Collar, A Thing Around Your Neck That Comes >From The Chest Protector. It Should Go Up Hirer. Larry: Would That Affect The Way You Ride To? It Wouldn'T? >> Not At All But It Would Protect You From A Neck Injury. Larry: We Have Discussed -- And I Know You Write Poignantly About The Hours After, The Moment You Thought You Might Give Up And Your Wife Coming Into The Room. Explain That -- When I Asked You The First Time, Did You Think You Wanted To Die? And You Did For 20 Seconds. >> The Minute I Found Out What Really Happened --. Larry: Who Told You You'Re Paralyzed For Life? >> Dr. Jane, Dr. John Jane Who Had Operated On Me. Larry: Had You Been Out Until Then Or -- >> Yeah, I Think It Was About Four Or Five Days I Had Been Out. Larry: So You Don'T Remember Going Into Surgery Or Anything. >> No. They Had To Wait That Amount Of Time For The Pneumonia To Clear In My Lungs. Usually In The Past That'S What People Die Of That Your Lungs Sort Of Fill Up With Fluid. Larry: So You Open Your Eyes. You'Re In The Hospital. Do You Remember You Fell? >> I Have No Memory Of That At All. Larry: None? So When You Open Your Eyes, What Do You Think? >> Where Am I? What Am I Doing Here? And What'S Going On? Larry: And I Can'T Move My Hands. >> I Can'T Move Anything. And That -- That I Thought -- This Is Temporary. Obviously, I'Ll Go Home Next Week, And Then It Was Explained To Me, My Situation, And --. Larry: How Did They Tell You Something Like That, What Do They? >> Straight Out. That'S The Only Way To Do It, Look You Right In The Eye And Tell You. Larry: As Soon As He Said You Fell Off The Horse, Did You Then Remember It? >> No, Not At All. Larry: Do You Remember Going To The Event? >> The Last Thing I Remember Is -- Is Saying Hello To A Friend Of Mine That I Saw At The Fairgrounds As I Was On My Way To Warm Up. Larry: I See. So You Remember Being At The Fairgrounds? >> Oh, Absolutely. I Was On My Way Out To The Course. Larry: And What Was Your -- If You Can Remember, Your Immediate Reaction To Hearing That? >> It Goes In Stages. I First Thought, Well, Obviously, You Know, There'S Just Swelling In My Spinal Cord And You Know, I Always Survive Every Situation, So I'M Sure The Swelling Will Go Down. I'Ll Get Up And Go Home. I Mean, You -- The Brain Can'T Make The Leap That Quickly. At Least Mine Can'T. Larry: Denys? >> Yeah. So You Go By Stages. You Say, Well, You Know --. Larry: What Was The Worst Stage. >> Well, When I Realized I Was Actually Paralyzed From The Shoulders Down. And I Thought, Well, This Is Different. And -- Then My Family Came In. Larry: You Wanted To Die? >> Yeah. My Wife Dana Came In. And That'S Where The Title Of The Book Comes From. She'S The One That Said, "You'Re Still You, And I Love You." If She'D Hesitated Or If She Had Been Being Noble Or Something Like That, I Wouldn'T Have Been Able To Pull Through. Larry: Would You Say To
People Who Have This And Who Want To Die Because They Can'T Stand It To Hang On? >> Yeah. Larry: Or If You Really Want To Die It'S Your Right To Die? >> No. I Say Hang On Because I Know What The Researchers Are Doing. I Am Lucky Because I Have Got Like A Hot Line To All The Scientists. I Can Call A Guy Up Today And Say What Are You Doing In The Lab. Larry: Is This Everywhere, Not Just The United States? >> All Over The World, Sweden, Zurich, Canada, La Jolla. Larry: More In A Minute With Christopher Reeve. The Book Is "Still Me". The Phone Number For The Christopher Reeve Foundation Is 1-800-711-Hope. 1-800-711-Hope. We'Ll Be Repeating That, Talk About It Too. Don'T Go Away. Larry: We'Re Back With Christopher Reeve. Now, People Who Have Been Tuning In And Listening Hear A Little Breathing Sound Every So Often. Would You Describe The Chair You'Re In And What They'Re Hearing? >> What They'Re Hearing Is The Breathing Machine Called A Ventilator. What It Really Is, Is Portable Life Support. Larry: That'S Behind You, Right? There We See It. >> Behind Me, It'S Got Hoses, Comes Up To My Meck. Larry: It Does What? Breathes For You? >> Breathes For Me, Yeah, Literally Pumps The Air In And Out And Otherwise I Would Not Be Here. Larry: Okay. But I Have Heard Others Where The Sound Is Louder Than Yours. >> Uh-Huh. Larry: And Where They Have To Stop -- In Other Words, The Breaks Are More Frequent, Where You'Ll Hear Sergeant Mcdougal Is An Example. Every 15 Seconds You'Ll Hear -- [Breathing] Then He Continues. >> He Needs A Newer Model Ventilator. Larry: This Is The Latest. >> Yeah, The Latest. Larry: Does It Feel Weird To Be Dependent As An Independent Person? >> Oh, Yeah, Oh, Yeah. That'S Why I Do Breathing Exercises Every Day. I Am Now Able To Move My Diaphragm Which Is A Big Improvement. It Means I Have Descended A Couple Of Levels So That I Can Take This Hose Off And Sit There And Open My Rib Cage And My Diaphragm And Breathe From That. Larry: For How Long? >> About A Half Hour, Then It Gets To Be Really Hard Work. Larry: Do You Still Have To Be Turned Over During The Night. >> No, I Can Stay In One Position Over The Night. Larry: What Changed That? >> I Just Have A Special Mattress That Prevents Skin Breakdown And It'S A Real Relief Because When I Was In Rehab It Was Every Two Hours, Got Home It Was Every Four Hours. >> Simple Things In The Movie Going Home, John Vote Played A Person Paralyzed >From The Shoulders Down Who Had Sexual Relationships, Can You Have Sex? >> No, Not In The Ordinary Way. Larry: But There'S Still -- >> Creativity. Larry: A Fulfillment. Is That Something -- It'S Hard To Ask This -- That You Miss, But Since You Don'T Have The Feeling, It'S Not Missing? >> No. You Miss It Terribly, But There Are Marriages Where, You Know, The Couple Are Making Love All The Time, But They'Re Not Really As Intimate As They Should Be, You Know, That -- It'S A Ritual, Or You Know, Somehow Not That Fulfilling, But Oddly Enough, Dana And I Are Just As Intimate As We Ever Were, And That'S What Really Counts. Larry: That'S Something You Must Have Thought About In The Hospital? >> Yeah, Sure. Larry: Will It Be, Right? >> Yeah. Larry: Does It Surprise You That The Intimacy Is As Strong As It Always Was? >> I Am Very Grateful For It. But Dana Is An Extraordinary Person. Larry: Obviously. >> So I Shouldn'T Have Been Surprised Because That'S Who She Is. Larry: All Right. Things We Don'T Know About Paralysis, Before We Get Into What They'Re Doing About It. When You Swallow A Piece Of Food, Duvall It Go Down? >> Just Normally, Yeah Totally Normal. Larry: All That Hunger Is The Same? >> Yeah, But For 7 Months I Could Not Eat. I Could Not Stand The Smell Of Food. And Then One Day In Rehab I Decided To Be Brave And Order Chinese. Larry: Chinese! [Laughs] Chinese. Larry: Do You Have Feelings When You Have To Go To The Bathroom. >> Let Me Tell You Something,
Dana Went Out And Got Chinese, Came In, And I Thought I'Ll Try It. I Hadn'T Been Eating Anything, And The Smell Was So Horrible. Larry: That Is True To This Day? Laugh [Laughs] >> She Had To Go And Eat It In The Bathroom. Larry: When You Have To Go To The Bathroom -- >> That'S -- I Have A Catheter That Goes Directly Out Of The Bladder Into The Bag. Larry: You Don'T Feel The Reflex Though? >> No. Larry: We'Ll Be Right Back With Christopher Reeve, Talk About What'S Happening With Paralysis, Make Things Hopeful Too. Don'T Go Away. Larry: We'Re Back With Christopher Reeve. His Book, "Still Me". It'S Going To Be A Major Best Seller From Random House. What Is The -- The Christopher Reeve Foundation? >> We -- We Raise Money For Research For A Cure. I Mean, Our Goal Is A Cure, Nothing Less. And We Also Give 30% Of The Proceeds That We Net To Quality Of Life Issues For The Disabled, So You Know, To Groups That -- That Are Helping The Disabled That Are --. Larry: So People Who Contribute To You Are Contributing Not Only To Research -- >> Yeah. Larry: But To Helping Those Already Hit With This? >> Exactly, Yeah. Larry: And The -- Your Association With The American Paralysis Association Is What? >> I Am Chairman Of The Board, So The Christopher Reeve Foundation, Actually, Funds The Apa. Larry: I See. >> So I Am Wearing Two Hats At Once There. Larry: People Who Are Making Out Checks Make It Out To The Christopher Reeve Foundation. You Can Send It To Post Office Box 277 Fdr Station, New York, 10150 Or You Can Call 1-00-711-Hope. And Your Money Gets Put Into Two Hears. -- Areas. Initially I Thought It Was Just Going To Be Research. >> But Then We Thought There Are People Who Don'T Get What They Need. For Example Someone May Need A Backup Ventilator And Their Insurance May Not Give To It Them So We Try The Help Them Out. Larry: What'S The Insurance Company'S Argument. >> Oh, Man, I Got To Tell You It'S Outrageous. For Example I Was Denied A Backup Ventilator. Larry: Because? >> Because They Say You Don'T Need It. And If Yours Fails, They Can Simply Put Air Into Your Lungs With A Plastic Bag. It'S Called An Ambu Bag So There Would Be A Nurse In The Middle Of The Night Squeezing Air Into My Lungs Keepingmy Me Alive Until The Office Would Open At The Nearest Place An Hour Away And Get Me A Ventilator. That'S Ridiculous, Absolutely Ridiculous. Last Year -- Just -- I'M Sorry -- Last Year, Insurance Companies Netted $780 Billion. Guess Louch Money They Put Into Research? Zero. But If They Would Fund Research, First Of All, They Would Get Cures And Then They Wouldn'T Have To Pay Out The Benefits. >> It Would Be Cost Effective For Them? >> Yeah. They Don'T Understand This. It'S Ridiculous. Larry: When You Meet With Them And You Have Entree Jean Way Nobody Is Going To Refuse To See You, What Do They Say To You? >> Profit Margin Is Too Small. These Claims Could Wipe Us Out. We'Re Operating Really On A Shoestring Here. They Have All Of These Ridiculous Answers And It Makes Me Sick Because My Great, Great Grandfather Was The Ceo Of Prudential For 25 Years His Belief Was We Take Care Of You From Cradle To Grave. He Would Be Outraged, Disgusted At These Things Going On Today. But The Thing That Really Bothers Me Most Is That We Have Proposed -- Not Me But Senator Harken, Senator Specter, Rockefeller, Jeffords, Porter, In The House Have Proposed That The Insurance Companys Be Required To Give One Penny -- One Penny Out Of Every Health Premium That They Get, Receive, One Penny To Research. That Would Raise $26 Billion. And They Won'T Do It. They Think It'S A Tax, And It'S Unfair. One Billion -- One Penny, $26 Billion Dollars. With $26 Billion You Could Wipe Out All Of These Diseases. >> Why Wouldn'T This Pass? >> What Happened Is They Had To Sent It To The Senate Resolution Which Is Nonbinding And It Passed 8 To Nothing. Senator Harken Was Very Encouraged And They Put It To A Vote.
They Lost 65 To 33. It'S Unbelievable. Larry: You Would Think One Insurance Company Would Just Want To Do It For Promotional Value At This Point. >> Absolutely Plus The Facts That Statistically They Come Out Ahead, Way Ahead Because There'S Not That Many Americans Who Have A Catastrophic Need So They'Re Going To Win, You Know? Larry: How Many Americans Have What You Have? >> 250,000 With 12,000 More Every Year. Larry: Due To Various Type Of Injuries, Right? >> Yeah. Larry: It'S Not A Born Thing? >> No, No, No. It'S Usually Like Diving Into The Shallow End Of A Swimming Pool. Kids Get Injured On Trampolines That Kind Of Stuff. Larry: Or On A Horse, On A Horse, Yeah. Larry: We'Ll Be Right Back With Christopher Reeve, The Book Is "Still Me". The Christopher Reeve Chris Foundation Number Is 800-711-Hope. The Post Office Box -- We'Ll Be Right Back. Larry: We'Re Back With Christopher Reeve. The Book Is "Still Me". Everyone Who Has Read About You, At Least These Past Three Days, Week, Knows Of Your Statements That You'Re Going To Walk. What Do You Base That On? >> On What The Scientists Are Doing And The Pace Of The Research. I'Ll Give You An Example. About A Year Ago, They Did Work On Rats With An Antibody Called L-1, And The Rats Kind Of Scrambled Around. Their Legs Were Moving, But They Weren'T Really Bearing Weight, And About Nine Months Later After Further Refinements On This Antibody The Rats Are Working On A Scale Of 0-14 Where Zero Is Nothing And 14 Is Complete Movement, They Move At A Level Of 12.5. The Average Observer Wouldn'T Even Know There'S Something Wrong With Them. Now What They'Re Doing, Particularly Led By Dr. Martin Schwab At The University Of Zurich, Is They'Re Going To Have A -- Immunize The Antibody So It Doesn'T Cause Toxicity In The Body Or Doesn'T Get Rejected By Tim You Know System Then It'S Possible If All Goes Well That They'Ll Be Ready For A Human Trial Within A Year. Larry: You Think They Will Because -- >> Because What? Larry: In Other Words What Keeps You Affirmative? >> Immunize An Antibody Is Not Hard To Do. They Have Done It In Rats, It'S Just What Will Make It Safe In Humans? That Won'T Take That Long And The Biggest Problem -- You Know What The Biggest Problem Is? Is That Human Trials Are Very, Very Expensive. They'Ll Cost About $25 To $30 Million To Do It On The First Batch Of Patients So, Right Now Dr. Schwab Is Negotiating With Drug Companies, You Know, Because When The Drug Companies See Profit Coming Then They Get Involved, Then There Will Be Profit Here Because The Antibody Will Be Something That Will Be, You Know, It'S A Drug That Will Be Administered, And Also It Will Have Implications For Alzheimer'S And For M.S. And Stroke And All The Diseases Of The Brain And Central Nervous System. Larry: There'S No Bigger Story Than A Cure For -- I Mean, The Cancer Story Breaks The Other Day And It Looks Hopeful And It'S Going To Take A Year Before We Know And The World -- The World Is Allencompassing. Do You Think That Will Happen? Let'S Say This Antibody Works And They Make An Announcement We'Re On Our Way To Experiments In Humans, They Have Shown A Successful Enough Way To Continue? >> I Think They'Ll Do It Quietly At First, Then We'Ll Have The Success, Then It Will Be Broadcast, But I Think The Experiments Will Be Done Quietly And Certainly I Will, You Know, When The Time Comes, Sneak Off To Zurich Or Whenever To Go Be Worked On. Larry: Do You Think About Walking? >> Absolutely. As A Matter Of Fact, In My Dreams, I Have Never Been Disabled In My Dreams, So My Subconscious Insists That I Am Whole. And I Follow My Subconscience. But Let Me Say One Other Thing, That, You Know, The Defense Department, The Budget, You Know, In Preparation To Fight Ten My And Be Ready -- There Are No Real Enemies. There'S Saddam Hussein, Okay, But He Helps Keep The Pentagon In Business. But The Real Enemy, The Enemy Now Is Reason Our Bodies, All Of These
Diseases, Parkinson'S And On -- That'S The Future. That'S What We Have Got To Fight. And We Need To Take Money >From The Defense Department Budget And Put It Into Research. >> It Would Seem Idiotic Since That Enemy Obviously Exists And Is Killing People, As We'Re Speaking People Are Dying, Gould To War With That If That Were An Enemy, If Cancer, Say, Were In That Army You'D Be In A World War. >> That'S Right. Right Now The Pentagon'S Budget For Medical Research Is $39 Billion. And Of Course, They Need To Do Work On Nerve -- I Mean Immunogerm Warfare, Et Cetera, But You Would -- If You Were To Break Off, Say, Let Have 20 Of That And Give It To The National Institutes Of Health, You'D See Results So Quick, It'S Unbelievable. Larry: Okay. What Has To Happen, Chris, For You To Walk? Money. Money. Larry: I Know That, But What Has To Happen -- What Do They Have To -- Your Spine Is Separated -- >> Oh, I'M Sorry. Larry: I Am Going To Get To The Money Part, But What Has To Happen? >> Well, There Is A Gap Of Only 20 Millimeters In My Spinal Column At The Second Cervical Vertebra. So Nerves Would Have To Regenerate Across That Gap. And What They Have Found That'S So Encouraging Is That Nerves As They Regenerate, They Don'T Just Go Wandering Around Aimlessly. They Seek The Appropriate Connection On The Other Side Of The Gap. It'S Almost As If The Body Wants To Be Whole, Wants To Be Put Together Again. So, Like, For Example, If Somebody Were To Chop Off Your Arm At The Elbow, They Could Reattach It And All The Peripheral Nerves Would Reconnect Because The Body Wants To Do What. >> Then The Difficulty Here, Then Is Is, What? >> Is There Are Two Proteins In The Spinal Column That Prevent Regeneration. The Reason Those Proteins Are There Is That As The Fetus Develops It Keeps The Brain From Overdeveloping And If The Brain Overdevelops It Creates Tumors So It Shuts Down The Brain At The Right Time But It Also Prohibits Regeneration Of Nerves That Is What They Have Now Discovered The Antibody To Those Proteins, That'S Why I Sit Here As Optimistic As I Am. Larry: When This Comes About It Will Come About Through -- Will You Need Any Physical Thing To Do Or Will You Need Any Medication? >> Yeah It Will Probably Be Injections At The Site Or Maybe Some Kind Of A Pump That Administers The Dosage On A Kind Of Regular Basis. It Might Be An Implant That, You Know, Keeps The Drug Coming At The Rate That'S Needed. Larry: You Have Gotten Much, Much Better. >> Yeah. Larry: You Look Better. You Look -- Look Very Healthy In Fact. >> Thanks. Larry: Do You Have Any Feelings At All? I Remember You Told Us Once About A Twitch In The Ankle? >> Well, The Main Thing Since I Saw You Last Is That I Didn'T Have Feeling Down My Spine. And That'S Really A Cause Of Worry. I Mean, That'S Serious Damage. But About A Year And A Half After The Accident, I Developed Feeling All The Way Down To The Very Base Of My Spine, And That Means That I'M Incomplete And Make Miss Chance For Recovery That Much Better, Plus The Fact That The Ventral Side Of The Spinal Cord Which Controls Motor Function Is Completely Intact. So Doctor Schwab, In Fact, Wrote Me And Said That I'M A Prime Candidate For Regeneration And Recovery. Larry: One Of The Great Difficulties You Face Is You Don'T Have Pain, Right? >> No. Larry: If I Put A -- If I Put A Knife In Your Hand, You Wouldn'T Feel It, Or Would You? >> Well, Not In My Hand. But I Tell You, I Had Two Blood Clots Right Behind My Left Knee And I Had Sensation Down Them. I Said, Why Couldn'T It Have Been Any Other Leg? Oh! Larry: Would You Have A Heart Attack, Though, God Forbid, And Not Know It? >> I Would Know It. Larry: You Would Know It? >> Oh, I Definitely Would Know It. Larry: We'Ll Be Back With More Of Christopher Reeve, The Phone Number 1-800-711-Hope. That'S Reeve Foundation And The Book Is "Still Me" From Random House. Don'T Go Away. Larry: This Interview
Tonight Is Being Transmitted As Well On The "Larry King Live" Site On The Internet. A Lot Of Questions Are Coming In About Faith And The Last Time You Were With Us, I Asked You If You Prayed And You Said You Thought That Would Have Been Hypocritical. Have You Had Any Feelings Of Faith Or God About All Of This? >> Well, Believe It Or Not, I Think That, You Know, God Is Not An Entity That You Find When You Go To Church And Pray To God Almighty, You Know, And I Always Remembered That Going To Church As A Kid, You Know, And They Talk About The Vengeance Of His Terrible Swift Swords And His Army, And I Thought, That Sounds Like A Scary Guy. I Don'T Believe In God, Per Se, And I Believe In Spir Chewality. I Believe It'S Automatically Within Ourselves But We Have To Learn How To Access It, And What That Is, Is To Realize That It Is A Higher Power; There Is An Inner Strength. Larry: So It'S Not Datheism? >> I Don'T Know Where Exactly It Comes From, But It'S Really The Best That Humans Can Be And Perhaps What It Really Is Is Love. Larry: Do You Believe In Life'S Lessons, Those Who Might Say, This Happened To You For A Reason? >> No, I Don'T. I Think It Was Totally Random, But I Think The Job Is Afterwards To Find A Reason, So It Didn'T Happen For A Reason, But Then I'Ve Had To Learn How To Create One. Larry: This Is Something That Before It Happened To You, You Probably Did Not Very V Any Zb Interest On? >> No. Larry: Somebody Fighting For A Cure For Spinal Injury, Right? >> I Have To Admit -- Often I'Ve Told This Story That I Was Placing Pair Plejic In A Movie. Larry: -- Larry: They Just Showed It The Other Night? >> Yes, And I Went To The Rehab Center In Van Nuys, California, To Train. How To Asimulate Getting Out Of A Car And Every Time I Would Leave There, I Would Say, Thank God It'S Not Me, I Was Very Smug And Relieved To Leave The Hospital. I Regret That So Much Because I Was Setting Myself Apart From Those People Who Were Suffering Without Realizing For A Second That Could Be Me. Larry: Even Though You Were Playing A Villain? >> You Can Injure Your Spinal Chord And Bruise It And Be Up In A Couple Weeks. Larry: Can You Show That, Wheeling Yourself Around? >> That'S Something I Prefer Not To Watch, No, Because I'M Very Ashamed How I Behaved When I Left The Rehab Center. I'M Ashamed About My Smugness, My Complacency. Larry: Do You Think The Other People In The Center Sensed It? >> No, Because When I Was There, I Was Very Quiet, Respectful, Interested, But Inside, I Was Thinking, Oh, I'M Glad That'S Not Me. Larry: You Can Read The First Chapter Of Christopher Reeve'S Book, "Still Me" On The Cnn Website. We'Ll Be Back With More Of Christopher Reeve After This. Larry: One Of The Helpers Just Helped Christopher Reeve Take A Little Water Off His Chin. What Do You Do When You Itch? >> I Ask Somebody To Scratch. Larry: That'S The Worst, Isn'T It? >> Sometimes, Because You Have To Describe Where It Is, A Little To The Left, A Little To The Right. Larry: How About Sneezing? >> I Can Sneeze. It'S Amazing, Cl Means My Diaphragm Works. Larry: You'Ve Gone To The Hospital Where Pneumonia, Collapsed Lung, Two Blood Clots, Infection Which Almost Forced The Partial Amputation Of A Leg. What Causes To You Keep Getting These Kinds Of Things? >> This Is What Happens When You Sit There In The Chair. The Longer You Sit There In A Chair, The Longer You Have To Fight, Osteoporosis, Loss Of Bone Density, You Have To Fight Poor Circulation; You'Ve Got To Fight Infections. For Example, Lung Infections Happen All The Time. You Know, You'Re Battling Decay, Really, Because The Body Is Not Meant To Be Frozen Like This, So That'S What The Exercises Are For And That'S Why I Eat A Very Healthy Diet, Et Cetera, But That Doesn'T Prevent Those Things From Happening. Larry: How Much Medication? >> Oh, Boy, I'M On Probably Some 25 To 30 Different Medications. Larry: And You'Re On A Diet
As If You Were A Heart Patient Or Low Fat Or -- >> No, High Protein. It'S All About Protein. You Have To Keep Your Globulin Levels Up. Larry: That Means You Eat A Lot Of -- >> A Lot Of Fish. I Have To Eat Red Meat, Which I Had Stopped Eating, Because I Didn'T Want To Eat Red Meat, But It'S A Major, Major Source Of Iron And I'Ve Had To Resume Eating. >> What Can'T You Eat? >> Nothing Is Off Limits, But I Wouldn'T -- Stuff That Makes Me Fat, Because The Problem Is -- Is That I Can'T, You Know, Do A Whole Lot Of Situps To Work It Off And I Don'T Want To Turn Into A, You Know, Porky Pig Here. Larry: Now, Acting -- You Got To Direct In The "Glowing", Which You Did A Great Job? >> Yes. Thank You. Larry: Are You Going To Redirect? >> Now We Have Another Script. We Expect It The 11th Of May And If That Comes In, As We Hope It Will, Then We'Ll Go Ahead And Do It And The Point Is Jimmy Stuart Was Sitting There, Looking Out The Window. Larry: The Broken Leg, Right? >> Yes, We Wanted To Make It More Modern And Show What A Person Can Do With Its Wits. Larry: But You Still See The Crime In The Alley And The
-- >> Yes, You Have To Put It Together And, Of Course, This Guy Will Come After Him, And I Will Have To Use The Technology, But There Are Things, You Know, From Your Chair You Can Open Doors And Windows, Turn On A Tv, Activate A Computer, All Kinds Of Things, Which People Don'T Really Know About In This Movie. Larry: This Will Make It A Hit Of A Thriller? >> Well, You Want To Make A Hit Out Of Somebody That Is Disabled. You Want To Show An Ability Oh -- Ability Out Of A Disblet -- Disability. Larry: Who Is Going To Come And Help You. >> The Most Beautiful Actress That Can Help. Larry: There Is The Back Cover. You Ever Look At That And Say, Whoa! That Was Me. I Mean, This Was A Pretty Good--- Looking Guy, Who Was At The -- >> It Was Taken About 1997, Actually. Larry: And The Front Cover Is Christopher Reeve Now. The Idea To Shoot From Behind Was Whose Idea? >> That Was My Idea. I Just Thought That What I Wanted To Do Was -- You Know, That I Write Sometimes About My Frustration About That Land There. It'S Our Farm In Williamstown, Massachusetts, And We Used To Ride Horses And Fish In Streams And I Was Part Of The Land Participating In It And Now It'S Scenery And Now, I Feel, I Could Visit Her Into A Spectacular Outdoor Mooum And That'S What That -- Museum, And That'S What That Picture Really Shows. I Can Sit There And Look At It And Appreciate It Work But It'S Different Now And I Just Thought It Was A Poignant Pick Dhoor -- Picture. Larry: When You Speak Before Congress And All The Things You Do, Do You Feel Effectiveness? Do You Feel Clout? >> Well, Congress Is So Convoluted -- Those Guys Live The In Some Outer Universe, Because Everything Gets So Wattered Down -- You Couldn'T Run A Company That Way. I Go In There And Say Three Things: I Say, Okay, First Of All, We'Ll Take Out $20 Billion Out Of The Defense Department Budget, Now, We'Ll Take Out Money From The Tobacco Settlement, And Now We'Ll Budge The Budget For The National Institute Of Health And We'Ll Double It And The Guys Say, We'Ll Phase It Over In 10 Years And That'S What The Problem Is. Larry: How About The President? >> He'S Been Great. We Correspond And Talk Fairly Frequently And I'M Trying To Really Push Him -- -- It May Be Presumptuous Of Me, But I Use The Word "Legacy" Because To Get Past All This Paula Jones Or Whatever, Is Really A Time Of Peace And Prosperity Is Really To Leave Something Behind For The American Public. Larry: That You Push For? >> And I Push For This, The Break Through In Research. Larry: We'Ll Be Back With Our Remaining Moments With Christopher Reeve. The Book Is "Still Me", The Christopher Reeve Foundation, 1-800-Hope Larry: What About Someone In Your Position Looking In, Saying, Yeah, That'S Christopher Reeve, He Gets On Television; He Has His Private Planes; Everybody Indicaters To Him.What About Me, I'M Here Downtown? >> My Job Is To Try To Get A Cure For The Guy In Downtown On The Street. >> As -- Elizabeth Taylor'S Involvement, What Bet Fee Betty Ford Did For Substance Abuse, It Takes Somebody To Lead The Charge And I'M Doing It, Just For Me, But For That Guy Down The Street. Larry: What About Those Spinal Injuries In A Male? >> Guys Tend To Dive Into The Shallow. Larry: Just Stupid? >> Yeah [Laughter] >> Are We Going To See It Grow With More Women In More Competitive Sports? Are We Going To See This Happen? >> Yes. Larry: There Are Women In Ice Hockey? >> Yes, You Can Take A Board In Hockey And Break Your Neck. It'S Going To Happen. Larry: That'S What That Guy In Boston Did, His First Play On Ice? >> Yes. Larry: 11 Seconds. >> Travis Roy. Larry: Great Star In High School, First Game In The Ice, Paralyzed Him For Life? >> Yes, But He'S Not Sitting At Home Watching The Grass Grow. He'S Back At College And Very Aggressive About Raising Money And So -- Larry: When You See People Run -- Just Walk Out Of Here, Are You Jealous? >> No, Not Anymore. It Would Take Up Too Much Of My Time. Larry: Were You Once Jealous? >> Yes, I Was. You Know, I Thought, Wait A Minute, Why -- Larry: Why Them? >> Yeah, Why Them And Also I Felt Like, You Know, This Is Wrong, You Know, I -- There'S Got To Be A Mistake Here. I'M Not Supposed To Be Seated Here And Then I Realized How Arrogant That Was. I Knew Better Than Anyone Else. I Wiped Out In A Freak Accident. It Could Happen To Anybody And What Really Makes Me Sad, The Family Driving Along In A Car And They Stop -- It'S A Rainy, Windy Day, And A Tree Falls Over, Lands In The Car And Kills Two Of The Occupants -- The Husband And The Son, And You Know, Where Is The Justice In That? Where Is The Logic In That? A Tree Fell On Their Car And The Mother Is, You Know, In A Wheelchair With A Spinal Chord Injury. So, You Know, The Point Is That Yeah, There Can Be, You Know, Dumb Things, Diving In A Shallow End, But Also The Randomness Of Life Where You Can Be Sitting At A Stop Sign, A Tree Falls On Your Car, You Know, It'S Just -- That'S Pretty Weird. Larry: The Day You Walk, I Guess You'Ll Be Coming Out Of Some Hospital Or Somewhere? >> Well, I'Ll Need To Learn Equil Brum All Over Again. Larry: You Have To Learn How To Walk? >> Yeah, I Have To Learn How To Walk. Larry: You Would Crawl? >> No, I Would Start On Parallel Bars, Walking Between Them, Being Supported Or I Would Use My Arms. I Would Have My Arms On The Rails And I Would Go Along, But I Imagine A Year After Rehab Where They Make The Reconnection And The Thing Is Where Do I Show Up First. Larry: Yes, That'S What I'M Asking. We Could Do A Show Standing Up? >> That Would Be Cool. Larry: Does The Hope Every Wayne -- Are There Ever Moments When You Say, It Ain'T Going To Happen? >> No. Larry: No? >> No, Because I Call These Guys Up And They'Re Not Lying To Me. Scientists Are Not Lying To Me. Larry: But Is There A Moment Of Doubt? >> If You'Re In This Condition And Somebody Said That If We Have Enough Money, That We Will Be Able To Achieve Regeneration Over The Nixed Couple Of Years, Wouldn'T -- Next Couple Of Years, And Wouldn'T You Be Able To Get Through That? Larry: I Sure Would And I Would Be Out There, Trying To Get The Money. Thanks, Chris. Thanks For Being With Us. The Book Is "Still Me". It Not Only Goes For Research But It Is Is To Help Those Afflicted. The Phone Number Is 1-800-Hope. We Thank Christopher Reeve For Joining Us. Tomorrow Night James Dobson. This Is Larry King In New York. Good Night. [CAPTIONING PERFORMED BY MEDIA CAPTIONING SERVICES, CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA]
---- Jim Lubin jlubin(AT)eskimo.com Bothell, WA, USA <http://www.eskimo.com/~jlubin> disAbility Resources: <http://www.eskimo.com/~jlubin/disabled>