Remembering Christopher and Dana Reeve

I was recently saddened by the news of Don Knotts passing away. In my opinion, he was the real star of "The Andy Griffith Show". The death of someone is always sad news, but at least he lived a long life. Christopher and Dana Reeve didn't make it into "old age", and that makes it even sadder.

I've always admired them both. Christopher pushed himself to achive goals he set for himself, and accomplished many things in his short life. He was a political activist; fighting for such causes as stem cell research, environmental issues, First Amendment issues, children and human rights, among others.

He believed that progress in ones life comes from setting your own challenges and then doing the very best you possibly can to succeed. He was an accomplished pianist, and composed and practiced classical music several hours a day. He was a superb athlete, doing his own stunts in movies, had a small plane pilot's license, flew gliders, sailed, scuba dived, and skied. He became interested in horses and competed in events, which was the thing that paralyzed him from the neck down in 1995.

How devastating it must have been for this extremely active man to suddenly be in a wheelchair that he had to control with his mouth; to be entirely dependant on other people to take care of his basic human needs. But instead of giving up and withdrawing inside himself, he saw his disability as another chapter in his life and began lobbying for disability rights and funding for research. This man had character and a love of life. He died at the age of 52.

Dana Reeve was an actress, singer, writer, motivational speaker, and activist for disabled people. She had been married to Christopher three short years before his accident. A famous quote spoken to her husband after learning he was paralyzed: "I still love you no matter what. You are still you." She was diagnosed with lung cancer (even though she had never smoked) shortly after the death of Christopher and her mother. She died March 6th, at the age of 44. Besides two older children of Christopher's, they left a 13 year old son behind.

I don't know what religion they were, or even if they were religious, but I pray they were saved and made their way to Heaven with the angels, because they did some wonderful humanitarian work here on Earth. May they rest in peace.

Sarah