Surgery Breath Of Fresh Air For Christopher Reeve

WCVB-TV ^ | November 14, 2003

[EveningStar]

BOSTON -- A new procedure using an implantable ventilator is allowing people like actor Christopher Reeve a level of independence they once only dreamed of.

... Reeve received a new lease on life in the form of an implantable ventilator. The device has been around for decades, but the actor is one of only five people in the nation to have undergone a new twist on the procedure.

[EggsAckley]

This is sick.

[EveningStar]

I guess you're not a South park fan.

[ChemistCat]

I'm still waiting for a good-night's-sleep-in-a-pill.

[EveningStar]

Chicken! :)

[ChemistCat]

Those of us who never saw the show didn't get it at all. It must've been bad. But don't tell me, please.

[Montfort]

My whole life revolves around Chris Reeves' battle to live long enough to be completely healed by stems cells harvested from innocent children.

For those unable to perceive dripping sarcasm, I provide a sarcasm alert.

[ChemistCat]

Stem cells can be had other ways; they do not need to take them from fetal tissue. We're going to get better and better at finding them, making them, using them, too, and at getting them to do what we need them to do....

I don't know if we could have learned about them without the research done with fetal stem cells. That's the easiest and most obvious source--but we find that they are available other ways now that we know what we're looking for.

There are many researchers who will wail and gnash their teeth when they realize what they have done!

Still, knowledge itself has no soul, and cannot be damned for its past. Terrible things have been done--but they need be done no longer. Reeves need not continue to defend the indefensible, to have hope that the technology can restore his functionality.

[Old Professer]

Superman is taking a long time to die, isn't he?

[South Dakota]

Now Reeves has more hot air to blast Mr. Bush

[EveningStar]

I didn't think it was bad but others obviously did. ;)

[EveningStar]

That South Park episode is a classic.

[Flux Capacitor]

----Superman is taking a long time to die, isn't he?----

His career gave up the ghost a lot faster than his broken body is.... personally, I think he should have listened to that inner voice several years ago and had someone push him off a cliff.

Sorry. I'm in a nasty mood after losing my governor's race.

-Dan

[ServesURight]

FReepers lay off Christopher Reeve. He's a lefty but so what he's still a human being and we're (supposed) to be compassionate Christians.

We don't stoop to the level of Rats and socialists, remember?

[Lib-Lickers 2]

as a teen,, I enjoyed the first Superman movie I watched in the theater,,,

[EveningStar]

Well, I certainly am grateful that I'm not in his shoes.

[Conservababe]

I didn't even bother to read the entire article. I assume that since the title says "new" procedure, it is just recycled garbage.

This procedure and implant is not new. It has been in the medical field for over twenty years.

Reeves really should stop releasing press reports on his progress.

I could not care less of a polo pony riding victim who tried to hijack all resourses of charity and government for his recovery.

[Born Conservative]

Implantable ventilator is not the correct term.

A simplified explanation of the breathing process: the diaphragm (muscle on the floor of the chest cavity) expands downward, creating a negative pressure in the lungs. Air rushes in to the lungs, and the oxygen is extracted and flows into the blood stream. When you exhale, the diaphragm is contracting upwards, and creates positive pressure, which forces out the "used" air. In Mr. Reeve's case, the nerve which stimulates the diaphragm to move has been damaged/severed, and he is thus unable to breathe on his own, which is why he needs a ventilator to breathe.

A true ventilator will provide the actual breath, whereas this procedure causes the body to provide the breath by stimulating the diaphragm to expand/contract. If they're going to write an article about this, they should at least try to get it right...