'Superman' widow Reeve dies of lung cancer

Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve who nursed the paralyzed 'Superman' for nine years until his death in 2004, has died of lung cancer at the age of 44, the foundation she headed said yesterday.

The Christopher Reeve Foundation, which backs research on the treatment of spinal cord injuries and helps victims of such injuries, said Ms Reeve, a non-smoker and mother of a teenage son, had died on Monday night.

"The cause was lung cancer," the foundation said. "On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and staff of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, we are extremely saddened by the death of Dana Reeve, whose grace and courage under the most difficult of circumstances was a source of comfort and inspiration to all of us," Kathy Lewis, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a statement.

Ms Reeve devoted herself to her husband after a riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1995. Christopher Reeve, best known for his role in the Superman movies, died in October 2004.

The actress, who put her career on hold to nurse her sick husband, leaves behind a 13-year-old son named Will.

She is also survived by her father, two sisters and two stepchildren, Matthew and Alexandra.

Ms Reeve's announcement last August that she was suffering from lung cancer came as a shock because she was a non-smoker.

Ten to 15 per cent of lung cancer victims are non-smokers and women in that group are twice as likely to get the disease than men who don't smoke. Radon gas, passive smoking, genetics and pollution are some of the causes among non-smokers.

Ms Reeve succeeded her husband as chair of the Reeve Foundation in 2004 and she established the organisation's "Quality of Life" initiative to help sufferers with similar problems as her husband endured.

"After Christopher's death, Dana was determined to preserve the important work and the legacy of hope that became his life's mission,"

Ms Lewis said in the statement.

"Even in our grief, the Foundation must pick up and continue to Go Forward with this mission."

In a statement after she announced her illness, Ms Reeve recalled her husband: "Now, more than ever, I feel Chris with me as I face this challenge," she said in the statement in August. "As always, I look to him as the ultimate example of defying the odds with strength, courage and hope in the face of life's adversities."