ShaniFaye

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/03/0....ap/index.html

Despite never having smoked she was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

She leaves a 13 year old son.

RIP, you've fought a long battle, not only for yourself but for Christopher and those like him too.

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

ngdawg

This is a shock and so, so sad. To go through all she went through only to lose this battle and their son lose both parents in two years...

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

lurkette

So sad...maybe she just couldn't live without him. I feel awful for their son.

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highthief

The poor kid...

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quadro2000

I felt awful when Christopher Reeve died. In a way, I feel even more awful about Dana dying. She was such a strong woman. She was the rock that allowed Christopher to live as long as he did. He often said that when he first had his accident, if she hadn't told him that she would be there for him no matter what because she loved him, he would have given up the fight.

(heart sinking)

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snowy

A truly remarkable woman--it saddens me to think that such an admirable human being has left us. She made an incredible difference by being both a rock for her husband and an activist for paralysis research.

Let us hope we can all make a difference like Dana Reeve did.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Sultana

This is so sad. She was only 44, 45? And she never smoked!

She certainly was and is an example to all. I can't imagine what her son is going through.

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
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Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

xepherys

Such a tragedy... my heart goes out to Will and the rest of the family.

Ustwo

Around 5500 people died in the US today.

Most of them didn't' marry a celebrity.

I don't feel any more sadness for her than any of the others.

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maleficent

I'm curious - if she's a non-smoker - (and always was) how did she contract lung cancer? Second hand smoke?

I honestly don't feel any sadder about a 'celebrity' dying - even if they do good works - what's said is that she's only a few years older than I am -- that's disturbing...

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pan6467

There's Radon gas (#2 Lung cancer cause in the USA), there's air pollution, asbestos and some people are just more apt to get it for whatever reason.

The late great Andy Kaufman died of lung cancer and didn't smoke.

I hate the fact that people seem to want to believe lung cancer is only caused by smoking, when there are MANY different ways to contract it.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Ustwo

Only no, vast majority yes.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Sultana

My sorrow has nothing to do with celebrity status. It's because she was a Good Person.

I don't feel any less sadness for her because of her marriage to a celeb.

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

little_tippler

That's very sad...they were an inspiring couple. I feel saddest for the son who is only 13...he has been through a lot so young.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

xepherys

I both love and hate that you always have such a cynical attitude. I don't think that anyone was showing extra sadness because she was famous or because she marries a celebrity. I feel sadness for her loss because she was a good person that tried to help people. Some of those other 5500 are in that same boat. Some of those 5500 were probably douchebags that just wasted good oxygen. *shrug* My level of sadness varies based on the person and what they did... not necessarily WHO they were.

quadro2000

Well, thanks for taking time out of your day to post that. I found it helpful, constructive, on-topic, and it certainly did nothing to invalidate the feelings of anybody who posted any sort of genuine emotion here.

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You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

maleficent

uber cynical mode here:

She's getting attention because she was married to a celebrity... There are people who take care of their loved ones every single day, and 'fight the good fight' every single day... while working full time jobs because they don't have millions in the bank... Good people die every single day... they don't get front page news on CNN when they do die... I'm sure her family is sad that she's dead... and I'm sure her family is proud of her accomplishments... but her do-gooding doesn't make her any better or any more deserving of sympathy than anyone else who died...

I'd much rather read about that unknown guy down the street that worked his butt off to provide for his family... than a celebrity.

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Sultana

And it doesn't make her less deserving, either.

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

quadro2000

What does one have to do with the other? This is a forum where we discuss, among other things, news stories. This is a news story. Why is it wrong to pay tribute to this person, and why are people taking it as if it somehow has anything to do with all those other people who died today? This is ridiculous.

Next time someone posts that their grandfather died, I'll come back with, "so what? A lot of grandfathers died today, the only reason we're mentioning this one is because it belongs to someone on TFP. I don't feel any sadder for your grandfather than I do for anyone else." Same thing. We're singling one out for one reason or another. And most importantly, how is it constructive, relevant or pertinent to the thread at hand?

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You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

Ustwo

Exactly maleficent, exactly.

I'm mostly immune to the cult of celebrity, in fact I don't understand it beyond an intellectual level. How people get so wrapped up in the lives of others who don't know them personally I'll never know. Are their lives so devoid of interest that they need to live vicariously through others, or is it just a search for a common link with their fellow man in that they can gossip about the same people. I don’t' know your friends, you don’t' know my friends but we can both be sad/mad/happy for about someone who died that didn’t' know us but we read about in People(tm).

On 9/11 when people were all talking about what CEO or what author died, it annoyed me that no one was asking who were the people who jumped hand in hand to their deaths.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

highthief

People do feel attachment to people who make the news - be they celebreties or wives of same or whatever. It's fair to say that Dana Reeve dying after what she and her husband went through touched a number of people - not sure why people have to put the story down. It's a very weird reaction, I agree Quadro.

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Si vis pacem parabellum.

ShaniFaye

what I dont get is....if you dont care why even bother reading the post and taking the time to say you dont care.....just skip over it so the people that DO care dont have to defend themselves

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

ShaniFaye

AND....I dont see any of this crap going on in the Kirby Puckett thread

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Ustwo

Because I didn't see that one, though it was on my mind.

Same thing, so don't be digging too deep. I just don't understand the connection people have for people who don't know them from Adam because they are celebrities. If your mother died I'd feel sympathy for you. If she was your mother, I'd feel sympathy for you.

Shes someone no one here knows personally which makes her no different than anyone else who died today.

I just don't get the cult of celebrity. If she didn't marry a movie star you wouldn't have heard about it or posted it.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Sultana

Ustwo, I'd say you're also buying into the cult of celebrity (from the back end, heh) by dehumanizing celebs, just because they are celebs.
Not one single person here said her passing was more heartbreaking or newsworthy by virtue of her pseudo-celeb status.
It doesn't devalue others to mourn her.

__________________
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

xepherys

But perhaps you could have quoted ALL of what I said. While I agree with your last sentence, I disagree with the middle part. Some people who died deserve no sympathy. It's possible that a child molester died today. Maybe a murderer or rapist. Perhaps someone that beat his wife or kids. Maybe someone that walked around the neighborhood beating and torturing people's pets. Those people DO NOT deserve my sympathy. So, when it's noted that a decent person has died, my heart goes out to their families and those they left behind. *shrug* Sure, I don't hear about every one of them... but not every person deserves to be known about.

JustJess

As for being upset about people we don't know... wow. Really?
Um, we're on the TFP - we don't truly know anyone else here. But you're all interested in our lives, aren't you? I mean... that IS why you spend all your day hours on here, right?

No one is saying they're only sad because she's famous. They're sad because another good person has died. We can't help that our society doesn't make regular people famous... except of course, celebrities. They're regular people who became famous, no? So why wouldn't it be sad AS WELL?

Stop trolling, Ustwo. You're totally off topic.

/end threadjack

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My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

meembo

Wow, I feel like defending ustwo! I never felt this way before...

His point (and Mal's) are right on point. I certainly don't think it's inappropriate for them to bring it up. That cynicism is the balance to the drippy sentimentalism that seems to surround these sad events.

Strangely enough, ustwo's own words are a bit contradictory to me, in that he says he can express sympathy if shanifaye's mom died. I assume that ustwo knows shanifaye solely from this forum (of course, I could be very wrong). It begs the question -- how many degrees of separation are necessary for genuine sympathy or empathy to be expressed for another person? I think that's the underlying question.

I see something personal in Reeve's death. I see my grandmother's and grandfather's and my father's struggles with cancer. I'm old enough to remember when the word "cancer" really was whispered, because it was scary and very deadly and people avoided cancer patients -- they just disappeared into hospitals, and very often died. I'm glad it's a fight that's out in the open now, and support groups at the very least reassure people that other families are fighting the disease as well. Cancer is an equal-opportunity disease. It comforts people to know that celebrities are just as human as the rest of the world. Maybe that's the allure of this type of news.

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less I say, smarter I am

Sweetpea

the loss of a life is sad, no matter who it is, celebrity or no.

What makes my heart break a little in her death is that she was so young and will be succeeded by an orphaned son who has already gone through so much.

sweetpea

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pan6467

I have to agree with Sultana and Shani.

Whether you buy into the "celebrity" or not this is a lady who stood by her man, worked to help others with similar life changing injuries that her husband had, and left a young son orphaned.

It's sad to see people take a soapbox proclaiming to be above the "celebrity hoopla" come into a thread that is meant to express people's sorrow and caring for someone that affected them.

I just think it says something about someone's character when they have to enter a memorial and talk about how the death doesn't affect them. Why then are you wasting your time and more importantly why do you feel the need to make others defend their positions and sorrow? In doing so you show no respect to either the person memorializing or the person whose life was taken.

This lady had a lot of class, a lot of soul and most importantly truly loved her husband. Loved the man enough to stick by him and in today's world that in and of itself is very rare and should be honored and respected.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Brewmaniac

Thank you, Pan! All this cleb stuff is Bullshit! The thread was started because ShaniFaye felt some sorrow that Dana Reeve past away.

quote:
"Despite never having smoked she was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

She leaves a 13 year old son.

RIP, you've fought a long battle, not only for yourself but for Christopher and those like him too."


I appreciate her determination sticking with her husband, making his battle her battle, after his death she could have abandoned the cause but didn't. She was a strong intelligent woman well worth talking about.
I know first hand, I'm married to such a woman, I severed my spinal cord just one level below Christopher Reeve. I fortunately have the ability to breathe with my diaphragm. My wife is the amazing one, only married 6 months she has stuck by my side for almost 25 years, she is loving and caring. She works 50+ hours a week, helps me and hauls our teenage daughter all over. Just trying to live as normal as possible. I know she will never be written up in the papers but when a story like this can be told, it should be.

Dana Reeves help to raise awareness to spinal cord injury and continued supporting Christopher’s foundation, which may fund advances in research.
She was admirable.
May she peacefully rest.

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smooth

I disagree with ustwo and mal's interpretation of why Dana's death is making the news.
I think it goes much deeper than a "cult of celebrity"

although, I'd be remiss to not acknowledge the power Christopher held over the minds of many young people of his Superman generation. I never understood it on a personal level myself, but I can understand how that story intertwined with the culture at the time, what it meant to be American, a sense of nostalgia in those youths later years, & etc.

that would explain, to me anyway, why Christopher's paralysis hit particular segments of the population so hard. Precisely why he might be seen as coming from a more "pure" time than say if Madonna, Michael Jackson, or even to some extent if Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson died (although the last two may be closer to the Reeves). Anyway, his popularity is part of it, but also their involvement in the medical research and foundation, as well as this is an excellent opportunity to create awareness for lung cancer.

because all of the reports i've seen emphasize the link between smoking and lung cancer, it's role as a major (I think leading is the report) killer, and that people need to pay attention in particular especially if a woman can contract it who doesn't even smoke. that early check-ups are crucial to overcoming the disease.

in short, the whole of Dana's popularity is greater than the sum of its parts.

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analog

Yeah, not everyone's death makes the press. There are plenty of people who give their entire lives to helping others, who pass quietly and without much recognition.

Don't forget that she was an actress before Christopher was paralyzed. Prior to that event, i'm not sure how "active" she was "helping others". What she did was good work, important work, but perhaps only because she loved someone close to the issue.

pan6467

My heart goes out to you man. It sounds like you have a wonderful woman and live a happy life and that is great. I hope someday to be lucky enough find a woman with such devotion, class and love.

God bless your wife, we need more women like her.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"