9. Dana Reeve
The actress, singer, and wife of actor Christopher Reeve never smoked, yet she developed a persistent cough that wouldn’t go away. A CT scan in August 2005 revealed stage IV lung cancer. In a statement, she said, “My family and I deeply appreciate the care and concern of our friends and supporters and trust that everyone understands our need and desire for privacy during this time. I hope before too long to be sharing news of my good health and recovery.” Reeve passed away on March 6, 2006 at age 44, 17 months after her husband’s death.
Four months prior to her death, at a fundraising gala for the foundation, Reeve looked healthy in a long, formal gown and said she was responding well to treatment and her tumor was shrinking. “I’m beating the odds and defying every statistic the doctors can throw at me,” Reeve said then. “My prognosis looks better all the time.” Asked how she kept her spirits up, Reeve said she “had a great model.” “I was married to a man who never gave up,” she said.
She was still looking well on Jan. 13, when she sang Carole King’s “Now and Forever” at Madison Square Garden during the retirement ceremony for Mark Messier’s New York Rangers jersey. “Despite the adversity that she faced, Dana bravely met these challenges and was always an extremely devoted wife, mother and advocate,” former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement today. They described Reeve as “a model of tenacity and grace” and an “inspiration to us.”