Dana Reeve dies of cancer

DANA Reeve, who won worldwide admiration for her devotion to Superman husband, Christopher Reeve, through a decade of near-total paralysis, has died of lung cancer.

Ms Reeve, 44, a singer-actress and one of the nation’s best-known carers, died late Monday, according to Kathy Lewis, president of the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

Ms Reeve had succeeded her husband as chair of the foundation, which funds research into spinal-cord paralysis.

A non-smoker, she announced that she had lung cancer last August.

Ms Lewis visited Ms Reeve in the hospital on Friday and said she was “tired but with her typical sense of humour and smile, always trying to make other people feel good”.

“She was a woman with an incredible heart who really put herself out there to help people with disabilities,” Ms Lewis said.

Four months ago, at a fundraising gala, Ms Reeve said she was responding well to treatment.

“I’m beating the odds and defying every statistic,” she added, “my prognosis looks better all the time.”

Asked how she kept her spirits up, Ms Reeve said she “had a great model”.

“I was married to a man who never gave up.”

A year ago, Ms Reeve won a Mother of the Year award from the American Cancer Society. She was a constant companion and supporter of her husband with whom Ms Reeve had a 13-year-old son, Will.

She also had two grown stepchildren, Matthew and Alexandra.