Superman's Wife Dies

Dana Reeve, actress, singer and activist wife of the late Christopher Reeve, has died of lung cancer in New York. She was only 44 and she lost a seven-month fight with lung cancer.

Her death is the third recent tragedy for the couple's 13-year-old son, Will, after his grandmother, Dana Reeve's mother, died of ovarian cancer last year.

Dana Reeve's announcement that she had lung cancer came last August, ten months after her husband's death. "Just when you think you're coming out and you think, 'OK, I see the light at the end of the tunnel', I got this diagnosis," she said at the time, according to The Scotsman.

The diagnosis was a surprise because neither Mrs. Reeve, nor her husband had ever smoked. Just two months ago she announced her belief that she was beating the disease, that she was responding well to the treatment and that her tumor was shrinking.

Dana Reeve appeared on 'Law and Order' and 'All My Children'. "Dana will always be remembered for her passion, strength and ceaseless courage," said Kathy Lewis, of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, a charity set up by the actor and his wife to find a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries, according to The Scotsman.

Dana took over the chairmanship of the foundation after her husband's 2004 death and created the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. She was also the key to the foundation's granting of more than $8 million to projects aimed at improving the lives of paralysis victims.

After the accident at an equestrian event in Virginia in May 1995 that left him a quadriplegic, Christopher Reeve admitted that he considered suicide. He said his wife helped him win his battle with depression and saved his life with the words: "I still love you, no matter what. You are still you," according to The Scotsman.

She is survived by her son, Will, 13, two step-children, her father and two sisters.