Form 7 Reeve

He took up horse riding, and trained five to six days a week for competitions. He had got interested in horse-riding after learning to ride for Anna Karenina. Reeve soon became professional in the sport. In one of horse-riding competitions in 1995 he had a bad fall from his horse and became paralysed from the neck down.

Sometimes after the accident he even thought of killing himself. On a day like this his friend Robin Williams made Reeve laugh with his silly jokes. He and Reeve’s wife helped Reeve to survive. In his turn, Christopher Reeve helped other people with disabilities not to lose hope with his ideas, his money and the money other people donated.

He used to say that his disability was not going to control his life. In 2000 he already could feel hot and cold temperatures on his body. He could even move his finger. He wrote two books. He directed a film and was working on horse-riding safety tips.

He died on October 9, 2004, after many years living and working with his terrible disability. After his death, many cartoons appeared in newspapers where he was shown as Superman. In one of the cartoons a disabled boy says about him, “He used his powers to save people. Nothing could stop him!”