Remembrance
A bunch of people passed away this week. Two of them were Christopher Reeves and Ken Caminiti. Ironically they may be remembered by something other than their professions.Reeves had been paralyzed after injuring his spinal cord falling off a horse. Since then, he has championed the cause of spinal cord regeneration research. The former Superman/movie actor showed us the fruit of (non-super)human resilience when he announced that he had, through much therapy, regained some limited functionality in his limbs years after his injury. I also attend someone from WashU talking about the benefit of exercise feedback therapy on paralyzed patients. The talk was interesting, but fell short of convincing me since it was actually N of 1. It was Reeves. Nevertheless, Reeves had helped to put a face on the hundreds of thousands of people that have suffered from spinal injuries. The sad truth is that the cause of Reeves' death was one of the most common morbidity of these patients, pressure wounds that lead to systemic infection.
Caminiti was a baseball player, and a pretty good one for several years in the mid 90's--good enough to be named the Most Valuable Player in National League one year. But after his retirement, he had confessed to steroid usage during his playing days. He also claimed that half of the professional baseball players still do. This does not sit well with a lot of people in baseball. He had also gone to jail for other drug usage, and died of heart attack at age of 41. Time will tell whether his history of drug use had any effect on his heart condition.
So how do we remember these men? The handsome movie star soaring over the Niagara Falls? The field general that sacrificing his body, leaving his sweat and blood on the baseball diamond day after day? Or the fragile man moving awkwardly in an automated wheelchair controlled with his mouth? The fallen ex-athlete shuttling in and out of the court rooms? Or the legacy of two men, living different lives, bring attention two very real and common problems that the world faces?
posted by hedgehog @ 9:48 PM
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