DANA REEVE

I thought, if I was going to date an actor, I wanted a real actor.

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.

I would like to record. I would like to do some cabaret acts.

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'm a very famous wife but I'm still plodding along in my career.

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.

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.

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.

Working on problems and self-examination is a sign of strength.

Chris' absence is very much felt. There's just a huge void in our home life.

Chris was very comfortable in the public eye and thrived in that kind of environment. I, less so.

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.

If I feel down, I can do what I've always done - go see a friend, walk the dog, have a cup of tea.

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.

Hope is a real thing. It's not pie in the sky.

Chris had the unique and rare opportunity to be shown during his lifetime how many friends he has and how much they care.

I've learned a lot about grief, that it really is something that goes in cycles.

Mv mother was so literate and literary.

I value my family more than anything. That's always paramount.

We both felt it was important for us to remain a couple. I didn't want to be just his nurse.

Christopher believed that to overcome any adversity, no matter how challenging, you need to go forward each day with strength, determination and compassion.

I believe that the healthy people go to therapy. It is the real lunatics who avoid it.

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.

The public knows me through my life, which is not comical. But I feel very at home in comedy.

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.