Christopher Reeve, best known for his Superman films, was paralyzed from the neck down after a horse-riding accident shattered his spinal cord. He spent nine years in a wheelchair and dedicated that time to campaigning for embryonic stem cell research and the rights of people with disabilities.
Years of daily therapy restored limited movement in his left-hand fingers and toes. A surgeon at the University Hospitals of Cleveland implanted a device that allowed him to breathe unaided for several hours each day.
Reeve's cause reached the 2004 presidential race. Shortly before he lapsed into a coma, Democratic candidate John Kerry cited his story during a debate with President Bush, calling for an end to federal limits on stem cell research. Those limits dated to August 2001, when Bush restricted public funding to existing cell lines, a decision Reeve viewed as a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.
He founded a disability advocacy organization and, in January 2004, attended the signing of New Jersey's stem cell legislation. Rutgers neurologist Wise Young, who had counseled him after the accident, said a cure for spinal cord injuries would stand as Reeve's lasting contribution.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.