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American Morning

Reeve Breakthrough

Aired March 14, 2003 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hope today that Christopher Reeve could be soon breathing on his own full-time without the help of a respirator. Last month, doctors implanted a device in his chest to help the paralyzed actor breathe for brief periods without the machine. Reeve said yesterday he can now go for up to 15 minutes on his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER REEVE, DIRECTOR/ACTOR: Someone is standing around, in case I need help, but then we are totally quiet in the room, and then all you could hear was me breathing from my nose, regular rhythmic breathing from my nose, for the first time in nearly eight years. I haven't heard that sound since May of 1995.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Joining us now to talk about the progress, Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Raymond Onders. He helped perform that operation on the actor. Good morning and congratulations.

At what point will you know whether or not Christopher Reeve can truly go without a respirator?

DR. RAYMOND ONDERS, UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF CLEVELAND: It's been nearly eight years since he's used his whole diaphragm,so it's going to take a little time to get that muscle strength up. We expect we should have a very good idea of whether he can get completely off the ventilator later in 12 to 14 weeks.

HEMMER: His sense of smell is back. What explains that?

ONDERS: When he's on the ventilator, he's actually having his breaths going through his tracheotomy (ph), so no air going through his nose. We actually kept (ph) that for 15 minutes each hour, for we did a total of three hours several days ago.

HEMMER: He was actually breathing through his nose the way you and I both breathe? He said 15 minutes at a time. Has he ever gone longer than that? That was his word yesterday.

ONDERS: No, this is our training. A total of three hours per day, but right now, it's just 15 minutes. We're slowly conditioning his muscles after eight years of not using his complete diaphragm.

HEMMER: You know this man is extremely strong. Seldom has he ever wavered from his own recovery and his dream of walking yet again. What does this do now, this sense of breath on his own for his overall health?

ONDERS: Breathing with the use of his own muscle, his own diaphragm is obviously the best way to breathe, and he is very aggressive in his training. He had us working. We did four weeks of training in about four days, and he'll probably continue that. SO We have no idea what the extent of this recovery will be with somebody like him.

But just one small aspect. Obviously, it would be great if we can get his whole spinal cord. And I think in the future, with his help and his foundation help, we'll get to that point, but right now, we have one small goal, to use his own diaphragm muscles to breathe on his own.

HEMMER: He's the third person to undergo this procedure, right?

ONDERS: Absolutely. He's been very involved with our research, and we've been contacting him for about a year, and he's been getting the studies to be ready for this. He does so much training on his own, it made it easier for us, it made it better for us, and right now, he's at home doing his training.

HEMMER: Doctor, yes, how much have his name and profile contribute or help him toward this procedure, this operation, knowing that he is so high profile, over the past eight years?

ONDERS: He actually was just one of the people on our list. When we initially did this study. It's an FDA protocol that we follow. The FDA is actually funding it, and he was just on the list. Actually, he had been contacting us over the last year to see if his name was up yet, and his name finally came up. Every patient gets evaluated. Certain patients may not meet all of our criteria, and he met all of our criteria.

HEMMER: As you point out, the evaluation does continue on a daily basis. Thank you for your time today.

Dr. Raymond Onders, there in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the many doctors who helped perform that operation.

Amazing stuff. Best of luck to Christopher.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 14, 2003 - 09:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hope today that Christopher Reeve could be soon breathing on his own full-time without the help of a respirator. Last month, doctors implanted a device in his chest to help the paralyzed actor breathe for brief periods without the machine. Reeve said yesterday he can now go for up to 15 minutes on his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER REEVE, DIRECTOR/ACTOR: Someone is standing around, in case I need help, but then we are totally quiet in the room, and then all you could hear was me breathing from my nose, regular rhythmic breathing from my nose, for the first time in nearly eight years. I haven't heard that sound since May of 1995.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Joining us now to talk about the progress, Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Raymond Onders. He helped perform that operation on the actor. Good morning and congratulations.

At what point will you know whether or not Christopher Reeve can truly go without a respirator?

DR. RAYMOND ONDERS, UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF CLEVELAND: It's been nearly eight years since he's used his whole diaphragm,so it's going to take a little time to get that muscle strength up. We expect we should have a very good idea of whether he can get completely off the ventilator later in 12 to 14 weeks.

HEMMER: His sense of smell is back. What explains that?

ONDERS: When he's on the ventilator, he's actually having his breaths going through his tracheotomy (ph), so no air going through his nose. We actually kept (ph) that for 15 minutes each hour, for we did a total of three hours several days ago.

HEMMER: He was actually breathing through his nose the way you and I both breathe? He said 15 minutes at a time. Has he ever gone longer than that? That was his word yesterday.

ONDERS: No, this is our training. A total of three hours per day, but right now, it's just 15 minutes. We're slowly conditioning his muscles after eight years of not using his complete diaphragm.

HEMMER: You know this man is extremely strong. Seldom has he ever wavered from his own recovery and his dream of walking yet again. What does this do now, this sense of breath on his own for his overall health?

ONDERS: Breathing with the use of his own muscle, his own diaphragm is obviously the best way to breathe, and he is very aggressive in his training. He had us working. We did four weeks of training in about four days, and he'll probably continue that. SO We have no idea what the extent of this recovery will be with somebody like him.

But just one small aspect. Obviously, it would be great if we can get his whole spinal cord. And I think in the future, with his help and his foundation help, we'll get to that point, but right now, we have one small goal, to use his own diaphragm muscles to breathe on his own.

HEMMER: He's the third person to undergo this procedure, right?

ONDERS: Absolutely. He's been very involved with our research, and we've been contacting him for about a year, and he's been getting the studies to be ready for this. He does so much training on his own, it made it easier for us, it made it better for us, and right now, he's at home doing his training.

HEMMER: Doctor, yes, how much have his name and profile contribute or help him toward this procedure, this operation, knowing that he is so high profile, over the past eight years?

ONDERS: He actually was just one of the people on our list. When we initially did this study. It's an FDA protocol that we follow. The FDA is actually funding it, and he was just on the list. Actually, he had been contacting us over the last year to see if his name was up yet, and his name finally came up. Every patient gets evaluated. Certain patients may not meet all of our criteria, and he met all of our criteria.

HEMMER: As you point out, the evaluation does continue on a daily basis. Thank you for your time today.

Dr. Raymond Onders, there in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the many doctors who helped perform that operation.

Amazing stuff. Best of luck to Christopher.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com