Proof that life is unfair...Dana Reeve is dead at 44

Cross-posted from my Personal Blog:

Dana Reeve, a non-smoker, lost her battle with lung cancer late last night.

After spending a decade of her life caring for her seriously unlucky husband, Christopher Reeve, and then devoting her life to the charitable foundation they had founded focused on finding treatments and cures for spinal cord injuries, Reeve succumbed to the disease that she announced she had back in August.

She and Christopher had a 13-year-old son. How does that kid not end up being pretty jaded? I mean I know both Christopher and Dana "never gave up" and "kept their spirits high" and all that, but that makes it even worse. Don't we often hear that positive attitudes and proactive behavior are supposed to help? Those two were full of both the right attitude and the virtuous behaviors.

I have always fund the Reeve story so poignant. Although Christopher Reeve had serious acting training and had shown his chops on Broadway, in the movie world he was regarded as a "pretty boy" actor, best known as Superman of course. He was just starting to mature into more serious roles, and to be taken more seriously as an actor when he had his accident. And the fact that he took that mishap and tried to leverage his fame for the good was and is admirable. Dana Reeve was equally admirable...her identity became inextricably linked with Christopher's...as his caretaker. A tough role to begin with, but in the public eye, I would think more so. She used to have her own career and identity, then she became the selfless wife...and really seemed OK with it.

Then not even a year after Christopher Reeve's death, Dana Reeve has lung cancer and ends up surviving only 6 months. She dies at the age of 44. Only 2 years older than me.

Life is definitely not fair. Bad things happen to good people. And if there's a grand plan, I'd love to know what that is.

Comments

[Brad]

I agree completely. I can't make any sense out of it. Christopher and Dana did the best they could with the cards they were dealt. They've touched many, many lives. Was it fair? No. For me it's just a reminder to sieze the day.