CHRISTOPHER Reeve lived a life of remarkable extremes. From handsome square-jawed actor, who was perfect for the Hollywood role of Superman, to a pathetic shell of a man due to a freak equestrian accident.
His death at the age of 53 has inspired worldwide tributes to his bravery and determination as a visionary campaigner.
It is appropriate that those tributes should include the words of Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, principal researcher at Newcastle's Centre For Life - a world centre for stem cell research.
Dr Stojkovic, in describing Reeve as instrumental in encouraging debate on the research, vowed to press on in striving to make the actor's dream of treatment for paralysis a reality.
In campaigning so tirelessly for scientific progress, Reeve must have known that a breakthrough would almost certainly come too late for him.
But he knew that one day others with similar disabilities would benefit from the kind of astonishing medical advances he helped to inspire.
John Cavanagh, of the Spinal Research charity, talked of the "very big impact" Reeve had made in terms of international funding for research.
And the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation set up in 1996, to champion the development of treatments for paralysis, will be a long-lasting legacy to his courage.
From a wheelchair, Christopher Reeve made a huge difference - a difference worthy of Superman himself.
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