Christopher Reeve Letter to TIME Magazine

In his piece "Restoration, Reality and Christopher Reeve," Krauthammer chastised me for appearing in a commercial in which I am seen walking sometime in the future. He accused me of raising false hopes. My guess is that Krauthammer is unaware of the many published studies documenting the remarkable progress being made toward repairing a damaged spinal cord. A few months ago, you published an article by Jeffrey Kluger on spinal injury that was a less biased report [Visions 21, Nov. 8]. In it, in response to a statement I made that I hoped to be on my feet by my 50th birthday and that there was a chance this might happen, Kluger wrote, "Skeptics warn against too much giddy hope... Most researchers, though, are more optimistic. Over the course of 10 years, they say, the riddles of the cord have been solved." I wish to reassure the public that I fully realize how important it is not to make statements that are misleading or irresponsible.

CHRISTOPHER REEVE
Bedford, N.Y.