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Abstract
When [Christopher Reeve], an actor who thrilled audiences in three Superman movies, was paralysed in a horse-riding accident in 1995, his injury was severe: C-2 American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Grade A. "The literature", John McDonald and colleagues wrote in a case report of Reeve's recovery, "does not provide a single example of an individual with an ASIA Grade A SCI [spinal cord injury] who recovered by more than one grade 2 years after injury" (J Neurosurg Spine 2002; 97: 252-65). But, "it turns out that's simply not true", said McDonald, director of the Kennedy-Krieger spinal cord injury center at Washington University, St Louis, MO, USA. "He shattered that myth." In 2000, Reeve got control of the twitching of his thumb, and eventually gained the ability to move most of his joints.