by Mary Kate Carew
Christopher Neves is a determined young man who lives in Brooklyn, New York and has been watching the Music Television Network (MTV) show Total Request Live (TRL) for over five years. TRL airs every weekday live for two hours and features the latest music and recording artists. Chris has dreamed about attending an airing of TRL since the first time he watched. After many failed attempts, his dream finally came true when he contacted the United Spinal Association for help.
Neves, who was born in 1981 with cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user, loves to write, is a student of karate and is a huge Britney Spears fan. A graduate of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn in June 2000, Neves was asked to speak at his graduation ceremony at the Madison Square Garden Theater in Manhattan. He has participated in the Special Olympics three times and has medalled in throwing and racing.
Despite his outgoing personality and many talents, Neves is often limited in his interactions with his peers due to his condition. TRL has been an outlet for him to relate to other kids his age and stay in touch with the changing trends.
First introduced to the United Spinal Association a few years back while at Murrow High School, Neves attended one of the Association’s wheelchair softball clinics for kids. At the clinics, several of the Association Mets Softball team players come and teach youths the basics of wheelchair softball. Neves enjoyed the clinics immensely and kept in contact with some of the players he met there-one of them being the Association’s Assistant for Special Projects, Victor Calise.
Neves had made several unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with the people from TRL. He called and left messages without any response. He enlisted the help of his family, friends and aides with no luck. He even made the trip to the MTV building in Times Square several times to speak with someone about getting on the show, but it was to no avail. At the peak of his frustration, he made one final attempt. Neves wrote Calise a letter asking for some guidance in his quest. “I hope you can help me, Victor,” wrote Neves. “Going on TRL has been a dream of mine since I was 17. It has really gotten me through some tough times.”
Calise passed the letter on to the Association’s Public Affairs Department, which in turn contacted the network. MTV, which had been very gracious to the Association in the past, seemed glad to help. Within no time at all, a date and time was set for Chris’s visit.
MTV welcomed Neves on Monday, March 22. They started his adventure off with a complete tour of the MTV studios. Chris was invited to see the green room where TRL celebrity guests wait while visiting the show, the production area, the MTV wall of fame holding pictures of the many celebrities that have visited the studios, the shows dressing rooms and wardrobe department, and finally the world famous TRL studio that looks out over Times Square. Neves was in awe to actually witness the place he had seen on television so many times. The trip didn’t stop there: Neves was led to the MTV cafeteria where he was served lunch while he looked out over an incredible view of the excitement that is Times Square. When he was finished with his meal, he was escorted to one of the show’s greenrooms where he was allowed to wait for the start of the show.
The time finally came and Neves was shown to his place in the studio. He spent the next two hours hanging out with kids his age, watching the top ten videos of the day, and meeting the TRL hosts. “This was a dream come true” exclaimed Neves. “Before this I could barely get into the MTV gift shop, let alone hang out in the studio!”
When the show was over, Neves had a mixture of emotions as his wonderful journey was ending. On his way out, MTV presented him with a satchel filled with MTV T-shirts, hats and pens. They also found out that Chris is a fan of Britney Spears and gave him a picture of her from one of her visits to TRL.
Chris and his incredible story amazed the MTV gang. “Chris is an unbelievably inspiring young man,” reflected Paul Mata, Public Affairs Assistant for MTV. “We were honored to have him visit MTV, and happy to help him finally attend TRL. His positive energy was contagious.”
Neves plans on going to college and is looking forward to attending TRL again in the future. “I can’t thank MTV or United Spinal enough for all they’ve done for me,” said an overwhelmed Neves. “They really rolled out the red carpet for me. They made me feel like a star!”
Mary Kate Carew is Assistant Public Affairs Officer.
