Reeve dies after injury complications

EAGLE COUNTY – Actor and spinal cord injury activist Christopher Reeve, 52, who was a regular visitor as a skier and later as a beneficiary of the American Ski Classic, died Sunday from heart failure.Reeve died after suffering an infection from a pressure sore. He lapsed into a coma before suffering the heart attack and dying at home. Best known for his role in Superman movies, Reeve was injured in a horseback competition in Virginia in 1995 that left him without the ability to move his arms or legs or even to breathe on his own. He required attendant care.”He was a great guy,” said Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation. “From the first time I met him he couldn’t have been more easier-going or more friendly or open. He was a wonderful person.”

Reeve started the Christopher Reeves Paralysis Foundation to seek a cure for spinal cord injuries, which affect 250,000 people in the U.S. Reeve is credited with bring national attention to and pushing the pace of research as well as developing new promising treatments. His foundation has awarded $42.5 million in research grants to neuroscientists.Reeve had some return of voluntary muscle function in his arms and feet under those treatments, including being able to breathe for several hours without the aid of a ventilator.In a March 2002 interview with the Vail Daily, Reeve took issue with President Bush’s action that limited the scope of stem cell research.”If we ban therapeutic cloning, we may lose our medical pre-eminence,” he said. “(Stem cells) can help millions of people. It’s the best available technology.”

He also expressed frustration with the pace of research.”Many scientists are stuck in the lab with their eyes glued to a microscope,” he said. “I feel just the way I did lying on that field in 1995 in Virginia. It’s still an emergency. I truly believe if all scientists studying regenerative medicine had emotional connections, we’d see more rapid progress.”Reeves paralysis foundation received more than $1 million from the American Ski Classic’s fund-raising activities, Folz said. Reeves, his wife, Dana, and son, Will, were avid skiers.Last year, Reeve’s foundation announced it would not participate in the Classic because declining donations did not match the expense of attending. In 2000 Reeve’s foundation received $250,000 from the Classic. But in 2002, the event raised just $78,000.Staff Writer Cliff Thompson can be reached at (970) 949-0555, ext. 450, or cthompson@vaildaily.com.Vail, Colorado