Christopher Reeve's Injury `Very, Very Bad,' Doctors Say

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Christopher Reeve's doctor refused to speculate on the actor's prognosis following a horse-riding accident that broke Reeve's neck and left him paralyzed.

Reeve, who cannot breathe on his own, broke his first and second cervical vertebrae and injured his spinal cord in a headlong fall Saturday, said Dr. John Jane, chief of the University of Virginia neurosurgery department.

"He may require surgery to stabilize the upper spine in the near future," Jane said yesterday.

Reeve's condition remained serious but stable early today, a hospital spokesman said. The actor's publicist, Lisa Kasteler, said Reeve was conscious and had been able to communicate with relatives.

Jane said it was premature to talk about Reeve's chances for recovery. Another specialist, however, said an injury to the spinal cord at the base of the brain is "almost inconsistent with survival."

"It's very, very, very bad," said Dr. Duncan McBride, chief of neurosurgery at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. "It's about the worst thing that can happen to a guy."

A small percentage of such patients regain some function, but they seldom show any improvement more than two days after the injury, said Dr. Donald Trunkey, chairman of the department of surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.

People who suffer such injuries are at risk from secondary ailments such as pneumonia and kidney failure, Trunkey said. And if

bleeding from the fracture reaches the brain, he said, it could be fatal.

Reeve, 42, and his mount had cleared two of 18 obstacles in a cross-country event during an equestrian competition in Culpeper. Then his horse stopped abruptly at the third, a 3-foot log jump, flinging Reeve to the ground.

Reeve was wearing a helmet, but Trunkey said that cannot keep the neck from snapping.

Reeve's athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure won him the title role in 1978's "Superman," which was followed by three more movies based on the comic-book character.

Reeve's brother, Benjamin, said, "Christopher deeply appreciates having received expressions of good will from so many people." Reeve's wife, Dana Morosini, and their 2-year-old son also were at the hospital, along with Reeve's two children from his longtime relationship with British-born model Gae Exton.

In an interview broadcast last night, he told the television program "Hard Copy" he had visited a spinal-cord trauma unit to prepare for a Home Box Office movie role as a policeman hit in the spine by a bullet. "Above Suspicion" aired Saturday night on HBO.

"A couple of days spent out at the spinal-cord trauma unit and you see how easily it can happen," Reeve said. "You think, God, it could happen to anybody."