(WASHINGTON) — Timothy “Timm” Nauman was keeping notable company in the nation’s capitol.


Hollywood royalty. A past presidential candidate. A potential future presidential hopeful.


And somewhere in spirit, Superman.


Timm, 28, of Lancaster, was paralyzed from the neck down in a 2003 car accident. Last week, he and others from around the country met in Washington, D.C., for three days to rally support for passage in Congress of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act.


The proposed legislation was named for the late “Superman” star who was rendered paralyzed in a 1995 horseback-riding accident. Reeve died in 2004 at age 52. The act is a key project for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, a national nonprofit, New Jersey-based organization.


“Hopefully, we made a positive impact,” Timm said. “We just keep trying — keep fighting, I guess.”


The four-part bill is centered on “advancing collaborative research in paralysis and improving the quality of life today for people living with paralysis and mobility impairments from any cause — stroke, ALS, spinal cord injuries, and others,” according to the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

“The CRPA encourages coordination of research to prevent redundancies and hopefully hasten discovery of better treatments and cures and, as importantly, to improve the daily lives today for those living with paralysis,” the organization states on its Web site, ChristopherReeve.org.


Introduced in April of 2005, in both the Senate and House of Representatives, the act did not pass in Reeve’s lifetime.


For Timm and his family, it’s an issue that hits close to home.


In September of 2003, Timm and his best friend, Brian Foss, were driving through Philadelphia on their way home from a Phillies baseball game. A speeding car, driven by a New Jersey man, Luis Ramos, crashed into them, killing Brian instantly and leaving Timm disabled.


Ramos was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident, according to toxicology reports.

He was given a 4½ - to 9-year sentence; but “he won’t end up serving all of it,” Timm conjectured.


Since then, Timm has used a wheelchair; he cannot move his arms or legs. A water bottle is strapped to the chair at shoulder level, enabling him to drink through a straw.

He cannot detect his own body temperature, and often feels cold even when it’s warm outside. This past Tuesday, temperatures in Washington approached 80 degrees, but Timm sat bundled in a dark coat, although there was sweat on his brow.


He breathes with the help of a tracheotomy tube “so I’m always battling some kind of lung infection,” he said. “Otherwise, I try to stay as healthy as I can.”


In a 2005 newspaper interview, Timm said, “at one point I was very independent. Now I’m really dependent on people.”


That hasn’t stopped his involvement with advocating paralysis research. Last week’s “Working 2 Walk” event marked the second time Timm and his mother, Sandy Nauman, rallied in Washington, having attended last year’s gathering, presided over by Dana Reeve, Christopher’s wife, who died in March of lung cancer at age 44.


This year, actress Susan Sarandon, a friend of the Reeves, took center stage as host of Tuesday’s rally, the culmination of three days of informational speeches and talking points on effective advocacy.


Flanked by images of the late actor and his wife, Sarandon made it clear that both were still very much a part of the day.


“I’ve been asked to fill some very large shoes,” said Sarandon, who used the words “bold” and “grace” in describing her friends.


“Could there be a better word for Christopher than ‘bold?’ ” Sarandon asked rhetorically. “The second word is ‘grace’ ...” Christopher’s boldness and Dana’s grace made them a dynamic pair.”


That happened with a lot of help, Sarandon noted.


“Last year, Dana realized the banner Christopher held has been taken up, not by one, but by thousands.”


As others moved about, chatting or having their photos taken, Timm sat quietly in one spot in the warm sun.

Standing close by was Tina Scone, a registered nurse who was along for the trip and who has worked with Timm in rehabilitation, and his mother, who clapped and cheered as speakers extolled their support for the Paralysis Act.


Held under brilliant skies, and with the Capitol dome gleaming white nearby, Tuesday’s rally was a more intimate occasion than Sunday’s Washington march for the suffering people in Africa’s Darfur region, or the mass protests held across the nation Monday in support of immigrant rights.

What it lacked in size, however, was made up for in spirit — and political muscle.


The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act has bipartisan support, including that of Iowa Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin; Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter; Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy; South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham; New York Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.


Both Clinton and Harkin made appearances on stage Tuesday, with Harkin pointing out that the good news about the Paralysis Act was that “25 senators and 64 representatives have signed on to the bill. The bad news is that 25 senators and 64 representatives have signed on to the bill.

That’s not enough. We need a majority.”


Also on the scene was Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who said that Christopher Reeve transformed tragedy “into this amazing, powerful personal testament to people all over the world.” At one point, the Democratic senator’s microphone briefly went dead.


“George Bush may be listening,” Kerry joked.


That lent an air of presidential history to the occasion — Kerry ran for the Oval Office in 2004 against Bush and media speculation has run rampant that Clinton, a former first lady, will run for president in 2008.


It was also a day to set aside differences. Sarandon recently criticized Clinton on her stance on the Iraq war, but it was all smiles and gracious introductions Tuesday. “We are all very lucky to have her here today,” Sarandon said.


“We are meeting together on this beautiful May day with a lot of sadness,” Clinton began. “Two people who motivated us cannot be with us.


“After Christopher’s accident, he and Dana became leaders in a movement,” she continued. “They gave this movement visibility.


“We need to move forward on stem-cell research,” said Clinton, who also called for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as passage of the Paralysis Act.


“Let’s do it for Christopher and Dana,” Clinton concluded.


Rounding out the afternoon, rap artist Richard Gaskin, better known as “ProfessirX,” performed “Always Be There,” a soft-spoken tribute to the Reeves. Paralyzed since he was shot in the neck in 1987, Tuesday marked a return appearance of the rapper, who wowed last year’s rally with an appropriately titled number: “Forever Superman.”


Described as “noncontroversial” by the Foundation, the act does not directly address the issue of stem-cell research, which has been an issue with many pro-life politicians and organizers. Nevertheless, said Sandy Nauman, “not all the senators are on board,” when it comes to passage of the Paralysis Act.


“It’s nothing controversial,” Sandy said, noting that the act is more quality-of-life-oriented, especially in enhancing daily function for people with paralysis in a post-clinical setting and in its call for cooperative research. That would help eliminate the problem of “one facility knows this and one facility knows that,” she said.


Timm, who said he saw encouraging aspects of stem-cell research during a weekend visit to Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute, said he understands there are misconceptions about the procedure, but said of those who oppose stem-cell research: “It’s easy to make an opinion when you don’t know that person’s life ... They need to sit in a rehabilitation hospital and see what ‘quality of life’ really is.”


He was nevertheless optimistic about his planned afternoon Capitol Hill meeting with Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a conservative Republican known for his strong pro-life beliefs.


Reached by phone after his talk with the senator, which was closed to the press, Timm sounded upbeat, saying Santorum seemed receptive to looking “at the structure” of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act.


“He was pretty open to the idea.”


“The meeting went very well,” said Robert Traynham, Santorum’s communications director, in a telephone statement.


“The senator enjoyed meeting with the paralysis patients and their family advocates.”


He added that Santorum was honored that some of his constituents “came to Washington to meet with him personally.”


Asked if he ever hoped to walk again, Timm said he would be pleased to see even minimal improvements, such as “gaining my hands back,” which would lead to more independence.


“Small increments,” he said, “would be an incredible help.”







Sidebar story:




Statistics on paralysis


•Americans who are living with paralysis of the extremities: 2 million.


•People living with spinal cord injuries in the United States: 250,000.


•Americans living with effects of stroke: 4 million. •Number of people who have strokes each year: About 600,000. •People in the United States diagnosed with some form of multiple sclerosis: 250,000 to 350,000.


•Children and adults in the United States who manifest one or more of the symptoms of cerebral palsy: 500,000.


•Americans living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease: 30,000.


•Number of ALS cases diagnosed each year: More than 5,600.


•Spina bifida, the most frequently occurring permanently disabling birth defect, affects approximately one out of every 1,000 newborns in the United States.


Source: Christopher Reeve Foundation