Dana Reeve 1961-2006

It is with the deepest sadness that the TMA community extends its sympathies to the Dana Reeve family and the wonderful people at the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.  Dana Reeve served as an incredibly powerful and positive advocate for quality of life issues for people with paralysis.  She will be remembered for her intelligence, sensitivity, grace, patience and for her devotion and loyalty to her family.

The TMA will always remember Dana for her support of our organization and our community.  The first institutional grant awarded to the TMA was a CRPF Quality of Life Grant to support the 2004 Rare Neuroimmunologic Symposium.  The CRPF also invited the TMA to serve on the paralysis task force, recognizing that those who have paralysis from the rare neuroimmunologic disorders, such as TM, ADEM, MS, and NMO have an important contribution to make to the understanding of health and quality of life issues that surround paralysis.

None of us knows how we will handle a personal tragedy.  We can only conjecture about how we might respond, but we really don’t know.  Christopher and Dana Reeve experienced this horrific tragedy when Christopher Reeve suffered his accident.  It would have been perfectly reasonable and understandable, if the Reeve family had circled their wagons and focused on Christopher’s rehabilitation and health issues and the family’s emotional issues.  They did not circle their wagons.  There was something special about their values and their characters that motivated them to think beyond themselves and to make their cause and concerns those of the paralysis community.  They reached out to all of us and included all of us; those who experienced paralysis from injury or from diseases or disorders or from birth defects.  These were truly extraordinary people.  They will be missed; they will be remembered.

Dana’s loss is a horrible loss for her family; her loss is a personal and tragic loss for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.  Our memories of Dana should serve as a blessing for all of us; and we should honor her memory by continuing to work for the highest quality of life for those in our community and the paralysis community.