Patrick Leahy: “today we heard the sad news of the death of Dana Reeve. My wife Marcelle and I got to know, first, Christopher Reeve…”

“today we heard the sad news of the death of Dana Reeve. My wife Marcelle and I got to know, first, Christopher Reeve, who often traveled to Vermont. We met with him there, did things with him there, and with members of his family; and then, subsequently through Chris, with Dana Reeve. We know they had only been married for 3 short years when Christopher Reeve had a terrible accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down. Like so many of the friends of both of them, we saw how Dana kept by his side. They raised their young son, she encouraging Chris at every step along the way. It was my privilege to see and be with the two of them many times throughout that, as she helped him with his foundation, to help those with spinal cord injuries. And I heard him say so many times he could not have possibly done this without her steadfast help. She said at one point that she learned that life does not take the turns you might think it would but that she would continue to stay with Chris and help him. I remember when the sad time came for the end of his life, and the funeral and the eulogies and discussions that I had with her after that, and her commitment to go forward to help with the foundation and to raise their son. Then, with the stunning news just a few months ago that she had lung cancer, in typical fashion, she said she felt she could beat that and would do--she had the best doctors--all the steps possible.…”