The Day Superman Became a Quadriplegic

“Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief.” – C.H. Spurgeon

From 1978 to 1987, Christopher Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in five different Superman movies. Then, on May 27, 1995, he was thrown from his horse during a cross-country event. Reeve landed head-first, shattering his first and second vertebrae and severely damaging his spinal cord. As a result, he was paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.

How did the accident happen? Reeve had just finished fourth in the dressage competition with his 12-year-old American thoroughbred Eastern Express, nicknamed “Buck”. Walking the cross-country course, Reeve had concerns about jumps 16 and 17, but gave little thought to jump 3, which was a routine one-meter-tall fence shaped like the letter "W". However, as they approached jump 3, Buck made a “refusal”, which means he stopped abruptly instead of jumping.

The sudden stop jolted Reeve forward, still holding the reins, and he took the bit and bridle with him as he fell. For three minutes, Reeve laid motionless on the ground, unconscious and unable to breathe until EMTs arrived and forced air into his lungs. Reeve was then medevacked to the University of Virginia Medical Center where he spent five days heavily sedated and delirious.

It was then, after regaining consciousness, that Reeve had to make one of the most important decisions of his life – whether to give up or to muster the will to live as a quadriplegic. With the encouragement and support of his wife Dana and their children, Reeve decided to keep on fighting.

By the time he died of cardiac arrest on October 10, 2004, Reeve had defied all odds by regaining limited use of his fingers and the ability to sense hot and cold temperatures over 65% of his body. Reeve regularly exercised in a swimming pool and could push off from the side of a pool with his legs and make a snow angel movement with his arms. Eventually, Reeve could breathe on his own for up to 18 hours per day.

Sadly, Reeve never came to know Jesus as his Savior in the midst of his trials, choosing instead to simply believe in a “higher power”. Meanwhile, here is what Charles Spurgeon had to say about the need for God to “bridle” our pride and other passions in order to conform us to the image of Christ…

“What would the best of us do if it were not for the checks that the Lord sets upon us both in providence and in grace! …Even the holiest need to be “kept back” from the vilest transgressions… The whitest robes, unless their purity be preserved by divine grace, will be defiled by the blackest spots… There is enough kindling in the heart of the best of men to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God shall quench the sparks as they fall.”

“For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.” James 3:2 (ESV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President