Special Feature

LCA Recognizes One Year Anniversary of Dana Reeve's Death from Lung Cancer

Speech given by Deborah Morosini, MD at The Crystal Ball in Boston, October 21, 2006.

Deborah is an LCA Board member and Dana's older sister.

Hi everyone, I’m Deborah Morosini. Dana Reeve, who died last winter of lung cancer, was my younger sister.

I want to speak to you about the terrible tragedy of her death, how it has affected her family and indeed the world, and also about the tragedy of lung cancer research and treatment today.

Dana married Superman, the actor Christopher Reeve, in 1992. She was an actor too--they met in the theatre in Williamstown, MA, where she was doing cabaret. They fell in love, were married, and had a son, William. When Will was 3, Christopher had the riding accident that resulted in him becoming paralyzed from the neck down. Dana rose to this terrible tragedy with the strength, grace, and compassion that everyone now knows is her hallmark.

For ten years she gave of herself fully to the care of Chris and to the work he and she established in the CR Paralysis Foundation. She was tireless as a mother, too, taking their young son Will to thousands of hockey games, helping with homework, and doing all, and more, of the things that mother do. And she was able to, a little; nurture her own career as an actor, performing in plays, television, and movies.

Chris died in October of 2004. All of us continue to grieve for this amazing man, and of course so did Dana. Dana began another life as a widow, caretaker of the CRP Foundation, and of course, single mother to Will, who was 13. She was devoted to this amazing boy, who had seen his father paralyzed, and despite this, had managed to grow into adolescence with strength and grace. Indeed, we can give Dana full credit for teaching this young man not only how to survive, but to thrive in the face of tragedy.

A few months later, in the winter of 2005, our mother-Will’s grandmother- passed away of cancer. She had been a huge presence in Will’s life, and was much loved by all. But imagine being 13 and losing your father and grandmother in the space of only four months…Imagine being Dana, who was only 42, losing her beloved husband, and her own mother, in such a short time…

And then imagine, the following summer, when you feel that life just might begin to turn around…that you just might be able to begin again…you’re feeling youthful, beautiful, maybe finally even a little happy…you see your son growing into a man and you’re feeling that he’s growing up just right…you’re still mourning for your husband and mother, naturally, but it’s summer and the future seems bright with possibilities…

You’re feeling these things, but you also have a little cough that won’t go away. As if something is stuck in your throat. You think it’s nothing, but it’s annoying. And you tell your doctor about it, and he checks it out, and you discover…

That you have lung cancer.

And you tell your son about it.

And you tell your sisters and your father about it.

And seven months later…in March of this year…you’re gone.

We are a family of doctors. My father is a doctor, and his father was a doctor. I am a doctor. In medical school I learned a bit about lung cancer--how complicated it is, how many different versions of it exist, how difficult it is to treat. I learned how high the mortality rate is for lung cancer. When I found out that Dana had lung cancer--well, I hardly have words to express how devastated I was…not only for myself, and for all the people in the world who so loved her, but for her son, Will--who has been rendered fatherless and motherless within the space of less than two years. Can you imagine?

There is tremendous ignorance about the facts of lung cancer, and about its treatments. Even I, as a physician, who works in research every day, was unaware…until I had to face Dana’s tragedy.

As the proud sister of Dana Reeve, it is my way of honoring her, and all of those affected by lung cancer, to make this now my life work--to speak for Lung Cancer Alliance, to raise a loud voice for lung cancer research and support, and to carry on her legacy of strength and compassion. In my work as a research physician, and now as a spokeswoman for LCA, I owe Dana, and you, this future. It is most surely what she would have wanted.