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Alert Update, Sheba Medical Center-Tel Hashomer, Israel
Reeve, 51, suffered a serious spinal cord injury in 1995 in a horse riding accident. Since then, Reeve had immersed himself in worldwide research and has had some successes himself, including an operation that now allows him to breathe on his own for several hours each day. (Reeve’s spinal cord injury impinged on nerves that control breathing, requiring use of a ventilator.) His library, say visitors, is a testament to the time he has put in to helping himself and others. “I’ve never seen so many books on one subject,” said Peter Wilner, executive vice president of Hebrew University, who recently visited Reeve in his home in Bedford, N.Y. In a recent telephone interview with The Jewish Week about his trip to Israel and his hopes for future research into treatment and a cure for paralysis, Reeve said that he has been following Israeli research on spinal cord injuries and paralysis ever since his own accident. He added that he was in touch with several Israeli researchers prior to the trip, including Michal Schwartz, a Weizmann Institute scientist who is working on a treatment that may improve the mobility of patients with spinal cord injuries so long as they are treated within 14 days of their accident. “I consider Israel to be a world center on paralysis treatment,” Reeve said. While the research he saw in Israel does not have immediate impact for him, Reeve said he does “have hope that over time continued efforts will ultimately benefit me as well.” Reeve said the five-day trip had allowed him to learn more about Israeli paralysis research as well as Israeli approaches to addressing the quality of life of those living with paralysis. He said he was also “overwhelmed by the courage of the people of Israel,” noting that he “hadn’t known what to expect after seeing television accounts and reading about the suicide bombings,” but found that people “go out into the streets, go and meet each other and continue living their lives.” Both during his trip to Israel and in Florida last week, Reeve said that limitations on stem cell research in the United States has hampered research efforts here. He told the Palm Beach Post that “U.S. science lags behind that of Israel and other countries because of President Bush’s limits on embryonic stem cell research.” Stem cells, according to the National Institutes of Health, can be induced to become cells with special functions, such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Scientists first isolated human embryonic stem cells in 1998. Under current U.S. regulations, research on human embryonic stem cell lines may receive NIH funding only if the cell line meets the following criteria: removal of cells from the embryo must have been initiated before Aug. 9, 2001, when President Bush outlined this policy; the embryo from which the stem cell line was derived must no longer have had the possibility of developing further as a human being; and the embryo must have been created for reproductive purposes but no longer be needed for them. Israel and many other countries have few if any restrictions on stem cell research. While Reeve was clearly excited about his entire stay in Israel, he was most animated about actually seeing patients who had benefited from Michal Schwartz’s research. “There’s little right now that can be done for chronic injuries like mine,” he said, “but there are significant advances in what can be done if someone is treated almost immediately after the injury.” The treatment involves isolation of macrophages, white blood cells, from the blood of a patient who has sustained a spinal cord injury. The cells are processed and then injected back into the patient, into the spinal cord in the vicinity of the area of damage. The treatment requires a surgical procedure to open the spine for the injection of the macrophage cells into the spinal cord. The thinking is that the white cells activate a person’s own immune system to begin the repair process after the spinal cord injury. In the first phase, eight patients have been operated on, including some from other countries, and three have shown marked improvement. No one has been made worse, according to the Israeli company, Proneuron, which is conducting the trials. Among the patients Reeve met was a man who was injured in a work accident and whose injury was identical to Reeve’s. The patient, Hasham Mahamid, an Arab Israeli from Umm al Fahm, was in the rehabilitation department of Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv during the summer. “I saw him stand and move with the aid of parallel bars,” said Reeve. “That just wouldn’t have been possible even a short while ago. “Hasham is living proof of what miracles look like.” Wherever he traveled, Reeve seemed to gain strength and then give it back, from patients with injuries similar to his. Several, including Ethiopian immigrant Alas Wassa and Steven Averbach, both injured in suicide bombings, have been in touch with Reeve since being injured and were thrilled to meet the actor, as was Reeve. “I took great strength from seeing so many people make strides in their treatment progress and go on living their lives to the fullest,” Reeve said. Reeve also traveled to several other hospitals and institutes and met with Hebrew University researchers at his hotel. Research under way at Hebrew U. includes the development of an artificial neural-prosthesis that will provide movement to disabled people. Connected to motor areas in the brain via electrodes that record brain activity, the neural-prosthesis would move, in real time, when prompted by a person who “thinks” the desired movement. Reeve is also keenly interested in the care and independence of people with central nervous system disorders. At Alyn Pediatric Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, he was particularly interested in the 19-bed respiratory rehabilitation unit dedicated to enabling ventilated and/or tracheostomized children to learn now to be able to live at home with their families. (Spinal cord injuries and disorders can also impact breathing.) In the unit, Reeve met with several children including a 7-year-old Jewish girl from the Negev who broke her neck in a car accident and has the identical injury as Reeve’s. She attends Alyn’s school for children in need of medical supervision. Reeve also met a 6-year-old Arab girl from East Jerusalem who was born with a congenital disorder that keeps her from moving her body at all and who is permanently ventilated, but goes to nursery school at Alyn. At the Technion Israel Institute in Haifa Reeve saw research that will help make stem cells more feasible for study in the lab, and robotic technology that may be able to make spinal surgery safer and more precise. And at Beit Halochem Rehabilitation Center, where patients get their rehabilitation on cutting edge equipment, he was entertained by a dance troupe called Hora Algalgalim, or Hora on Wheels. Reeve said that his previous role as Superman in four movies came up among the people he met with during his trip. In response to a question at Beit Halochem about whether he thought the Israeli peace process now needed a superhero, he said. “I always stressed the fact that Superman is a friend, a symbol of hope, a symbol of possibility. We all have powers within ourselves; courage, endurance of faith, and love that we can call on to get through difficult events. The ordinary hero is within all of us.” Asked for his overall impressions of his trip, Reeve repeated what he said several times during his trip. “Everyone involved in paralysis treatment in Israel, whether they be researchers, rehabilitation specialists or caregivers, is working with a sense of urgency. It shows how much Israel cares about its citizens — all of its citizens.” For more information, please contact: Ila Waldman, Executive Director, Friends of Sheba: Los Angeles 1+310-843-0100 or friendsofsheba@aol.com Lauri Novick, Executive Director, Friends of Sheba - Tel Hashomer: New York 1+212-354-8484 or lnovick@shebamedical.org In Israel: Ulrike Haen at Sheba Medical Center +972-3-530-2473 or ulrike.haen@sheba.health.gov.il
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