PHOTO COURTESY GARRICK LAU
Garrick Lau, top right, rode the Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain along with his cousin, John Feng, top left; brother Lawrence, middle right; and friend Noelani Kimura, middle left.
Like actor Christopher Reeve, Honolulu quadriplegic Garrick Lau doesn't accept the limits of his disability. A ‘Superman’ understudy
Christopher Reeve's progress
gives hope to lawyer Garrick
Lau, paralyzed since 1991By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"I am one of those advocates: Yeah, let's try this. Let's not accept life in a wheelchair," he says. "Let's go out and get a cure."
The 28-year-old immigration attorney's spinal cord injury hasn't changed his zest for life. He's been to Los Angeles and Las Vegas twice this year.
"God, I love roller coasters," he said, explaining he's been on nearly all 15 rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.
He said recent reports that Reeve regained ability to wiggle his fingers, move his joints and feel a sense of touch is "absolutely fantastic."
He hopes some day to meet Reeve. "He and I have a lot of the same views. ... He's not one to take this whole injury thing sitting down. ... He's just basically pushing the limits where most people just stop and say, 'I'll accept it.'"
Reeve, best known for his "Superman" role, was paralyzed in 1995 in a horseback riding accident.
His improvement years after his injury gives hope to many spinal cord injury survivors who've been told they have to accept physical disability and expect it not to change, said Dr. Peter Rossi, medical director of neurotrauma rehabilitation and neural repair at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.
"What I think this particular experience teaches us is to never give up hope and to not give up the possibility of improvement through therapy even years after injury, whether it's a head injury, stroke or spinal cord injury," he said.
Lau, a former Iolani School water polo player, broke his neck and was paralyzed from the shoulders Feb. 15, 1991. He dived through a wave and hit a sandbar during a senior class outing at Waimanalo Beach Park.
He said he "can't even begin to imagine" being dependent on a respirator, as Reeve is. "I'm so blessed. ... I've got to be one of the most active quadriplegics around."
Lau can use his biceps and shoulders, and a little movement in his right forefinger permits him to write. He said he receives a lot of support from his family and a tight circle of friends.
He achieved goals to earn business administration and law degrees at the University of Hawaii and began working a month ago for family lawyer Everett Cuskaden. He chose to do immigration law because he speaks fluent Chinese.
He's going to Hong Kong Oct. 19 at the invitation of Pacific Century CyberWorks, an Internet, phone and mobile telecommunications corporation, to talk to disabled kids and potential Hawaii investors.
His longtime ambition to be a millionaire by age 35 hasn't wavered. Although mergers, acquisitions and contracts involving big business have "gone awry" since 1998, he said, "I'm 100 percent pake, so capitalist blood is running through these veins. ...
"The reason I want to make the money is so I can give it away, be one of those supporters of spinal cord research."
With Reeve's push for stem cell and spinal cord research, Lau believes recovery someday may be possible for spinal cord injuries. "You just have to have a lot of patience. We are going to need time to help us."
Meanwhile, he said survivors must stay in shape so "we'll be the first in line to try new therapies."
He was swimming every day last year but admits he's "been a lazy bum" since starting work. "Those bill-ables have got to be met."
However, he said he's making swimming part of his routine again. "When my parents and I were watching the whole Christopher Reeve thing and him in a pool, my mother was saying, 'See, you used to be in the pool every day. Now you have a gut.'"
Rossi said Reeve's support and celebrity status gave him opportunities to interact with people on the front lines of research and care for people with a spinal cord injury.
"But the kind of care he received is the same kind of care people can receive at conventional rehab centers, even the Rehab Center of the Pacific."
For instance, electrical stimulation of muscles to pedal a bike, being used for Reeve, is among techniques to assist people with spinal cord injuries to walk again, particularly if their injuries are in the lower part of the spine, Rossi said.
A lot of research is going on, he said, describing work at Yale University on spinal cord cell implantation to repair a spinal cord injury. A Yale neuroscientist discussed the research at a symposium here this summer, he said.
Initial studies with animals demonstrated partial return of function even after severe spinal cord injury, and clinical trials with humans are beginning, Rossi said.
He believes people treating Reeve aren't certain how his movements occurred.
He suspects a few injured nerve fibers remained intact on a microscopic level, explaining: "Because there were so few, they were not enough to allow functional movement or sensation, yet through continual exercise even years after, those particular nerve fibers branched out and are gathering more and more muscle fibers."
Rossi, who has worked for years in rehab hospitals trying to improve services to people with neurological trauma, emphasizes it's easier to prevent spinal cord injuries than to repair them.
In Hawaii, particularly, he said people should be careful at the beach swimming or diving. Use of alcohol and drugs, careless driving and riding motorcycles without helmets also present major risks of serious injuries, he said.
