Matthew Bassin Guest Columnist

I was born with an "S" on my chest. Literally. The day I was born, my father brought me home from the hospital wrapped in a black shirt with a silver Superman "S" on it.

From that day I was hooked. Not like I had much of a choice in the matter. My father has been a comic nerd for as long as he's been able to read. So, as soon as I learned how to read, a Superman comic was thrown into my hand. I idolized Superman for what he stood for, which was everything good in a human being. Since Christopher Reeve played him before I was even born, he was the face I recognized as Superman. Not just me it seems, but the rest of the world as well.

In 1992, DC Comics, the company that has Superman as one of its titles, decided it was time for Superman to die. I was 10 at the time, and in the height of my comic-nerd days. When I started reading the series, it seemed like it would end up like every other series, with Superman winning in the end. But this one was different, Superman actually died! But that was the comic world and this is real life.

In May of 1995, Christopher Reeve, while riding in an equestrian competition, was bucked off of his horse and broke his neck. I cried that day for a long time; a lot of people did. But unlike most who would have given up after being paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve did what only Superman could do. He gathered the strength of the strongest muscle he had left - his heart - and used it for the good of humanity.

Christopher Reeve became an advocate for stem cell research, which is the act of taking harvested embryonic cells and placing them where nerves are injured, hoping they might develop into adult nerve cells and repair the damage that the body cannot.

What makes Christopher Reeve a hero to me isn't just the fact that he was Superman. I mean, Dean Cain also played Superman, but he doesn't mean all that much to me.

What makes Christopher Reeve a hero is that when he was able to do something meaningful with the fame being Superman had brought him, he did. He didn't silently slip away and die. He gathered all the strength he had left and fought.

In March 2002, Reeve attended a Senate Health Committee meeting and spoke out against arguments on stem-cell research. "Some people are able to accept living with a disability. I am not one of those people. That is why I have a keen interest in research and am deeply disturbed by unreasonable attempts to block scientific progress," Reeve said.

Because of the research done and the progress made, Christopher Reeve went from being completely paralyzed to being able to wiggle his toes and move his index finger on his left hand. He went from not being able to breathe without a respirator to being able to breathe on his own for 90 minutes at a time.

This man who had everything taken away from him except for his heart and his mind used them to the best of his ability. He defied the rules of paralysis and paved the way for paralyzed people everywhere. He gave hope to the hopeless. Sounds a lot like Superman to me.

In the last week of his life, Reeve developed a systemic infection from a pressure wound, which can be caused from sitting for long periods of time. On Oct. 9, Reeve went into cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma. He died the next day.

He never gave up. Even when he was told he wouldn't move again, he never gave up. He pushed the two muscles he had left until they could no longer take it. His heart fell first and then his mind.

I have an "S" on my shoulder. It's a tattoo, but I like to call it a birthmark. People think I am joking when I say that, but when you've grown up idolizing the comic character, as well as the man who played him and embodied his spirit, it means much more than a normal tattoo does.

When I look at the "S" it makes me smile. It gives me hope when others cannot. It tells me, "Don't give up; Christopher Reeve didn't."

So this is my solemn pledge and thank you to the man who taught myself and many others how to fly, walk and try. I'll never give up on anything because you never gave up. I'll make you proud in whatever I do.

Thank you Superman - you did not die in vain.

Matthew Bassin is a journalism senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.