Sacrifice always seems to imply a bitterness attached to it. But I don't feel bitter about the choices I've made. Yes, I sacrifice a job because I made certain family decisions, but I don't regret it.
Dana Reeve
I am working as a co-host on a show called, 'Lifetime Live.' It's on the Lifetime cable network. My co-host is Deborah Roberts. She's a news correspondent with 20/20. We are billed as a news and information show. It's fun.
Working on problems and self-examination is a sign of strength.
We have home movies of Chris playing the piano with Will on his lap. One of the things that made my life so full was putting Will to bed and hearing Chris downstairs improvising.
I don't live in the city, I don't work in a high-risk environment, and I am not a smoker. So it was never anything that would occur to me that I would get lung cancer, but the more I have learned about lung cancer is that it is becoming much more random, and it is striking women who are under 50 and are non-smokers and not in a risk environment.
If I feel down, I can do what I've always done - go see a friend, walk the dog, have a cup of tea.
I'm definitely not a saint.
Chris didn't only leave a legacy of work. He left a legacy of love.
There's not a lot of creativity when you're dealing with a disability, there's not a lot of freedom and spontaneity.
There are moments when the grief comes bubbling up. The first time I saw Chris's chair empty, that was really hard. And it was hard when I started folding up some of his sweaters that I so imagine him wearing.
Hope is a real thing. It's not pie in the sky.
As a caregiver, I always thought I had empathy for Chris's situation, and certainly one family member's disability affects the whole family dynamic in myriad ways. But as I go through various tests and discomforts and uncertainty about the future that cancer can bring, I feel a strong, visceral connection to what Chris went through.
Superman is a traditional archetype in our culture, this all-powerful but benign doer of good, protector and friend. If he could succumb to the frailties of mortal man, what's to become of the rest of us?
I think the idea of time travel is very seductive.
Chris' absence is very much felt. There's just a huge void in our home life.
In the mornings I drop my son off at school and then head to work. I am done at work by 2:00 P. M. and can head home.
I made a vow to Chris when we married that I'd love him and I'd be with him in sickness and in health and I did OK with that.
Chris had the unique and rare opportunity to be shown during his lifetime how many friends he has and how much they care.
Christopher pushed the boundaries beyond anything anyone could expect from any human being.
I've learned a lot about grief, that it really is something that goes in cycles.
I'm a very famous wife but I'm still plodding along in my career.
I value my family more than anything. That's always paramount.
I am an actress and I do have to make a living.
But TV and movie schedules are always easier than a theater schedule, if you have a family.
Chris and I used to say, when he had his accident, 'Well, this is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to either one of us, but at least we had each other to go through it with.'
I believe that the healthy people go to therapy. It is the real lunatics who avoid it.
The public knows me through my life, which is not comical. But I feel very at home in comedy.
I feel freedom in singing and performing.
I took the marriage vows very seriously, as did Chris. You're there - sickness, health - I mean, really. And you don't take those vows until you can say it and mean it.
Life is full of risks, and you don't want to raise someone who's afraid of taking risks, either physically or emotionally.
Chris, boy, was he ever resilient, and was he ever someone who would never give up and had tremendous discipline, and he set goals and met them.
I would like to record. I would like to do some cabaret acts.
I think Chris' favorite role was in 'Remains of the Day,' which was the Merchant Ivory film that he shot not long before his accident, a couple years before. He loved working with Merchant Ivory.
With grief, you know, the only way to get through it is through it.
There's a formula Chris and I used all the time. When you least feel like it, do something for someone else. You forget about your own situation. It gives you a purpose, as opposed being sorrowful and lonely. It makes me feel better when things are too hard for me.
Mv mother was so literate and literary.
I get little moments all the time, all I want to do is call my mom.
Christopher believed that to overcome any adversity, no matter how challenging, you need to go forward each day with strength, determination and compassion.
Chris was very comfortable in the public eye and thrived in that kind of environment. I, less so.
I'm a big girl. I prioritize. I want to be acting, I want to be singing, but there will be time for that.
We both felt it was important for us to remain a couple. I didn't want to be just his nurse.
I thought, if I was going to date an actor, I wanted a real actor.
