Cause celeb Christopher Reeve comes to Capitol Hill tomorrow morning to sing the praises of research on embryonic stem cells.
"The cells really are the body's self-repair kit and their potential was only discovered in 1998," the "Superman" star told us this morning from his home in Westchester County, New York. "They have the incredible potential to cure a myriad of diseases that have always been thought to be incurable," including Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and even spinal-cord injuries like his own.
Reeve, who will testify before a Senate subcommittee, wants Congress to lift its ban on federal funding of research on these cells, which are inside every human embryo and are the cells from which all kinds of adult tissue grow.
"You need the government to oversee the use of these cells to make sure there's a standard," he said. "You can't leave it to private enterprise to carry it out any way they please."
Political activism is nothing new for Reeve, who lobbied for arts funding as president of the Creative Coalition and in the last few years has fought for budget increases for the National Institutes of Health. "I've been a pest on the Hill for a long time," he joked.
The 47-year-old Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down five years ago when he was thrown off a horse during a competition in Virginia, told us his condition is much improved.
"I'm in the best health I've been since the accident," said Reeve, who does physical therapy three hours a day. "I have been free of infections for over two years. I haven't had to go to the hospital for about three years. I've had a collapsed lung, four bouts with pneumonia, two blood clots. I had an ankle infection; they threatened to amputate my left leg. All those crises are past."
Now he's able to breathe longer without the ventilator – anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes a day – and his endurance is much better.
"I feel very grateful to be progressing as time goes by rather than deteriorating." He's determined to walk again. "If we harness the forces of the government, the private sector, foundations and pharmaceutical companies, then I'll walk sooner. If not, it will just take longer but I will still walk."
