Sunday Mirror from London, London, England • 20

THE INTERVIEW PAGE 20 SUNDAY MIRROR, March 16, 1997 From Page 19 can do this, he has gruelling daily workouts in the gym he had built in the garage of his home in Bedford Hills, 45 miles from New York. to get through to his legs. But Christopher means to be ready when the cure is found. One top researcher, Dr Wise Young of New York University, says: "I tell people we have nothing yet to give you. "I have almost normal sensation in my left leg," he says.

"When they stretch my legs. I can feel all the muscles moving. Sometimes my legs feel cramped, like I've been sitting in the back seat of a car too long." "But if I were you I'd exercise to keep in good shape so you're ready when we have some answers." At the moment, however, there is no way for the signals from the brain One of the toughest things for I won't be chained down for WILL walk again someone with Reeve's injuries is breathing unaided. At 6ft 4in and over 15 stone, he is a big man and needs a lot of air to fill his lungs. At first, as he says, he "couldn't suck in enough to keep a parakeet alive." With dogged determination, sucking air through a contraption like a restricted drinking-straw, he built up his lung-power a few seconds, then minutes, now he can go hours without the ventilator.

"The doctors were stunned," he says. "After that first breakthrough it built up rapidly. I just did it. "I'm not going to be chained to this respirator for the rest of my life." Several times a day his nurses range" him stretching his limbs, even the fingers and toes, to keep them flexible and stop the muscles withering. Often they seize up or go into an involuntary shaking fit common to paraplegics.

"The muscles are bored, they're not being told what to do by the brain, so they do something on their own. says Christopher. He goes to the gym every day for E-stim electrical stimulation. He is put into long, tight cycling trousers and on to an exercise bike. Then his legs are electric-shocked into life.

The trousers have 50-volt electrodes in them which turn on and off. constantly zapping the muscles to contract and relax. At first he could stand only 10 minutes of the electric shock treatment. Now he is up to nearly 45 minutes. Gravity also plays a large part in the body's functions helping the kidneys and heart work properly among other things so four times a week Christopher is strapped on to a tilting table which is slowly tipped on end, so he is moved towards the upright position.

When he is nearly vertical his heart is racing because, although he cannot feel it, he is once more standing on his own two legs, carrying all his own weight. Christopher has been surprised by thousands of letters he has received from well-wishers all round the world, and is happy to hear that others benefit from his example. One young footballer with a broken back wrote saying he wanted to die until he saw Christopher on television. Now his life has new purpose. "That's encouraging," says Christopher.

"But we have to keep the momentum going, make sure the research funds keep coming in." When times are tough, or he feels depressed as anyone would the security of his family is always there. Asked if she could ever imagine walking away from all the problems, Dana replied: "No, I can't at all. I could easily see how this could break up a rocky marriage. "You'd say, 'Forget it. I can't take Because it's a burden.

There's a lot about this that's a burden." Christopher says: "I often joke with Dana about the line in our marriage ceremony 'in sickness and in "I say, 'This is a little more than you bargained But she has never flinched from the commitment for a second. "We're very lucky we were together for five years before we got married. And we really knew by the time that we got to say those vows that they would have the full intent and meaning. "Dana's so terrific. An accident like this it magnifies your situation.

If you had a bad marriage before, it's going to get worse. "If you have a wonderful marriage like ours, it's going to get even better." r.r. Know or benefit. rip-oill :7: Give us a i i i i1 telephone tilp-oil. 1 1 1 i 1 iih 11 16 i .1 0 1 cs ......::::::1 1 i 5,:.,: I 0 1 I ii.a,ii i ii i i 111; .:1, .1 i Know someone who's claiming benefit they're not entitled to? Keep calling BEAT-A-CHEAT on 0800 854 440.

Mon-Fri 8.30-6:30. All calls will be dealt with in confidence and we don't even need your name. Issued by the Department of Social Security dell- Abtle tr a agO 111116 6 1 11111111 .111 Reeve's broken neck is a Cl-incomplete the first vertebra down from the head Why there is hope for Chris WHEN someone breaks their neck or back, it is not just the bone which is damaged, but also the spinal cord, the body's main "telephone cable," thousands of slender nerves packed together which carry messages from the brain down the central nervous system. Extension cables, or other nerves, branch off from the spinal cord, telling fingers and toes to twiddle, legs to walk, lungs to breathe. Until recently it was believed the spinal cord could not be repaired and grow back.

But in the last few months researchers have made huge strides in laboratory experiments to bridge broken spinal cord nerves, helping them knit together. The breakthrough could bring enormous benefits not just to people with spinal injuries, but to stroke victims and those suffering from Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. Reeve's broken neck is a Cl-incomplete. It is the first vertebra down from the head, and usually everything below the break is paralysed. But it is promising because it is incomplete, meaning the cord is still partially intact and there is room for improvement.

Nerves Spinal Vertebra cord Disc Nerves The spinal cord carries messages from the brain. Nerves branch off from it, taking instructions on to the muscles and organs.