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| First Person: Point of View |
Superwoman
Dana Reeve
10/01/2005
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Dana Reeve began her career as an actress and singer, but the riding accident in
1995 that left her husband, Christopher, paralyzed from the neck down turned the
couple into nearly full-time philanthropists. It also made them persevering
advocates for research on medical applications for stem cell research, a
technique that shows potential as a treatment for paralysis. When Christopher
died in October 2004, she took his place as both chairman of the foundation and
the public face for the cause.
Christopher and I met in 1987 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in
Massachusetts. There is a late-night cabaret where performers can go up on the
stage and sing. I sang The Song That Makes Me Dance, and Christopher came up
afterward and introduced himself. We started dating that summer.
We used to
both be involved more in environmental issues and the Creative Coalition, which
is a lobbying group of artists for First Amendment issues, arts advocacy and
such. However, had Chris not had his injury, it is unlikely that we would have
ended up being so devoted to a foundation that is looking for a cure for
paralysis and trying to improve the daily lives of people. I certainly didn’t
expect to be doing this, especially in such a narcissistic profession as acting,
where it’s always about me, not about you.
Right after Chris’s accident,
people started sending us money. We didn’t feel right keeping it for his medical
expenses because we had the insurance and the financial wherewithal to cope with
this, so we decided to establish a foundation. We wanted it to be bigger, so we
aligned it with the American Paralysis Association (APA), which was a small
family foundation in Short Hills, N.J., started by a man named Hank Stifel,
whose son Henry was injured in a car accident when he was 17. We now call it the
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. We have put a lot of our own money into
it, but from the start, we also raised funds, because the more we had, the more
we could do.
Chris’s face—and his celebrity— generated interest. People
could identify with this almost mythic story—how this handsome, athletic movie
star who played Superman had fallen. It had the makings of a Greek tragedy. When
he talked to scientists, they would be eager to get back to their labs and try
to be the one to find the cure.
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