BBC BREAKFAST WITH FROST INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER REEVE JANUARY 23rd, 2000 Please note “BBC Breakfast with Frost” must be credited if any part of this transcript is used DAVID FROST: Christopher Reeve is with us right now. Welcome back to the UK. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Thank you, first time in five years, I’m delighted to be back. DAVID FROST: First time outside America since the accident? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Yes, absolutely, yes. DAVID FROST: And what progress since we last, there’s been progress since we last talked hasn’t there, in breathing, is that one thing? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Well more has happened in the last four years than in the last 40 in terms of spinal cord research and I met with one of the leading researchers from Switzerland the other day and he’s going to be in human trials in 18 months. So things are really looking up for the whole field of spinal cord injury and brain trauma and diseases of the central nervous system, it’s really a wonderful time. DAVID FROST: An amazing time, this was a guy called Martin Schwarz who came over to see you here. So what’s, what’s your personal timetable now, you’ve said you, you think you’ll be able to stand by your 50th birthday? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: No I’ve, I’ve been so misquoted on that it drives me nuts, I… DAVID FROST: Put it right for all time. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: I vowed to walk by my 50th birthday, I mean, I mean who am I to say that, no what I said was that I hoped that by my 50th birthday I’d be able to stand and thank everybody. That probably won’t happen that quickly but the way the timetable’s going now it looks as though within the next four to five years I should begin to start the process of recovery and full recovery is not only possible but probable. DAVID FROST: Probable? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Yep, that’s coming from scientists too. DAVID FROST: That’s thrilling. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: So in the beginning I was a sort of fool on the hill, I was the one saying well why can’t we do this, we put a man on the moon, we cured polio, there’s nothing we can’t do if we don’t address it with money and talent and people sort of look at me as if to say poor guy and now it’s, it’s coming out to be true. DAVID FROST: And in fact you said that the scientists now, you had to inspire the scientists once upon a time, now they’re inspiring you? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Yes we’re back and forth, it’s a 50-50 proposition, I have to get my body in shape, I have to prevent muscle atrophy, I’ve got to get my lungs in shape, I’ve got to prevent osteoporosis so I do that on a daily basis. DAVID FROST: How, how much time do you… CHRISTOPHER REEVE: And they’re in, they’re in a lab working away with the rats. DAVID FROST: But, and the mice, how, how do you keep a whole body fit? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: I work about two to three hours a day. DAVID FROST: Really. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: And right now the most important thing, I’m trying to get rid of this breathing hose and I’ve had recovery down to the fourth cervical level and that’s a great, a great sign and means there’s less damage than we thought and I’m now on a programme that if I work really, really hard I might be able to get off this hose within a year and that would be, that would be a gift because it’s not a very nice neck tie. DAVID FROST: No, no, but you handle it so well and you, you remind me of Nelson Mandela who had a terrible life experience and came out without bitterness… CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Twenty-seven years in prison. DAVID FROST: Yes, I mean but you’ve been imprisoned in your body I guess you could say… CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Right. DAVID FROST: And you seem to have achieved it, what he achieved, to do it without bitterness? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Well the thing is I have opportunities and when you do that…you need to help speak up for the whole disability movement, to push the researchers as far as they can go and to move from acting and directing which I always wanted to do. In a way some people said that breaking my neck was a good career move. I don’t recommend it, there’s other ways to work out. DAVID FROST: There’s other ways to work out, but the Christopher Reeve Foundation is raising money for research isn’t it, in this field? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Certainly we fund the top eight researchers in the world, we’ve got them all to work together and scientists have egos the size of actors and politicians. DAVID FROST: Yes. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: And it’s a Nobel Prize down the pipe for somebody but we’ve gotten them to work together in consortium, to share information and they do common experiments and that’s why we’re making this great progress. DAVID FROST: And you’ve said governments could do more and individuals could be more like Bill Gates, well he’s got more money than anyone else, but he’s giving a tremendous amount of it, tremendous amount to… CHRISTOPHER REEVE: The thing is, you know there’s a new generation of billionaires who have made money off the stock market and the internet and I mean some of them are under 40 they’ve got a personal network of you know $25 billion but they have no charity plan. Whereas in the 19th century and the early 20th century you had the Carnegies, the Van der Bilt, the Rockerfella’s who all gave back to society in big ways, libraries, universities, you know they felt a responsibility to their culture and I’m hoping that this new money can be harnessed in good ways. DAVID FROST: You said “But I have to admit that I still wake up every morning and have to get over the shock of not being able to move”? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Yes. DAVID FROST: That’s like your first thought every day? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Every day but it gets shorter and then I get busy, I just readjust and focus on you know what can I do today and there’s a phrase I use which is sometimes that bad days are good days in disguise so that you can start out by feeling pretty miserable and think about the injustice of it all, etc, but then a way out is to pick something very proactive, constructive, think of something that needs doing, some call, something and there’s always something that will take you forward if you think about it. And so I just get busy with that and I’m back in shape, it takes willpower but fortunately I was an actor for 28 years and as an actor you get very used to rejection, you might get one part out of 20 auditions and so I think the discipline in being an actor for all those years has, you know, really helped because you still have to believe in yourself and I believe in what’s happening in the research, the sheer willpower you can keep your body in shape and this is a big test, a big, big test but fortunately I have tremendous help from my family and friends and staff and I’m going to go forward and get out of this. DAVID FROST: You’re an inspiration to many people among the 1.2 million people around the world with spinal cord injuries, who was your inspiration in this battle? CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Mainly my wife Dana, you know, who never for a minute looked away or pulled back or doubted, you know I said you know I really tested the marriage vows here, in sickness and in health, but it didn’t even faze her and the fact that…and also my three children, I have three incredible children and my ex…, we’re still very close so it’s actually, this accident has brought out a lot of good things. You know it’s sometimes, you know parents don’t have the time to sit down for three hours with a teenager and talk about things, they’re too busy doing, but being is more important. DAVID FROST: Being is more important. Christopher you are an inspiration. CHRISTOPHER REEVE: Well thank you. DAVID FROST: Not just to people with spinal cord injuries but to all of us, thank you very much indeed. Our huge thanks to Christopher Reeve and to all of our other guests. Next week we’ll be here at the same time and we’ll have the first interview with the man who next weekend takes sole charge of the BBC, Greg Dyke, until then top of the morning, good morning. END 1