Streep, Lee and Woodruff honoured
Renata Espinosa

NEW YORK—For those living with spinal cord injuries in the U.S., the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation provides a form of magic in the form of funding for research and quality of life improvements. So the theme of their annual fundraising gala, “A Magical Evening,” held on Nov. 12 in New York, was especially fitting.
Celebrity friends and supporters of the Reeve’s cause, including Diane Sawyer, Robin and Marsha Williams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Anne Hathaway, came out in full force to the Marriot Marquis to honour the couple’s advocacy work. Christopher passed away in 2004, and Dana passed away from lung cancer at the age of 44 in 2006.
Their children, Matthew, Alexandra and Will, were on hand at the gala to honour Meryl Streep, the recipient of the Dana Reeve Hope Award; Lee and Bob Woodruff, the recipients of the Christopher Reeve Spirit of Courage Award and Henry G. Stifel, one of the founding members of the foundation and recipient of the Visionary Leadership Award.
“Meryl’s been a loyal and great friend to the foundation and we’re happy to pay tribute to her this evening,” said Alexandra Reeve. “I knew him for a long time, many, many years,” said Meryl Streep of Reeve. “I’m very, very honoured to be here, and I’m a little humbled, because I feel like I’m standing in light that [Christopher and Dana Reeve] cast. They just really were like a lighthouse for this issue, and so charismatic and so effective in their advocacy.”
Lee and Bob Woodruff, whose own story has come to parallel in many ways the Reeve’s, when television journalist Bob Woodruff became the first news anchor in Iraq to be wounded, nearly killed by a roadside bomb. He sustained a serious head injury and subsequently, he and his wife Lee established the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury.
“It just so happened after I woke up, after 36 days in my coma, I looked up at the TV and saw that Dana had passed away, and I will never forget that,” said Bob Woodruff. ?That was one of the first things that I saw. That’s how close this family is to so many people in this country.”
Another friend of the Reeve’s, Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who met the couple after college at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, said it was a “no-brainer” to come out that evening for the foundation.
“What they built is a pretty extraordinary thing, and I just want to keep supporting it as long as I can,” said Hoffman. “Hopefully from year to year it will keep building upon what they left, so that’s why I’m here.” Hoffman said that in choosing his own roles, he’s always been surprised about the films that have had a lasting impact.
“I never know what films will have an impact either socially or politically,” he said. “It’s a tough one, because sometimes things can be too on the nose. You hope you’re involved with things that will just make an impact, that will affect people somehow. Sometimes that’s socially or politically, and sometimes that’s just soulfully.”
Christopher Reeve, a longtime activist even before his paralyzing accident in 1995 when he was thrown from a horse in an equestrian competition, used his own celebrity for good causes ranging from the Make-a-Wish Foundation, to Amnesty International, to the Natural Resources Defence Council.
After his accident and extensive, painful rehabilitation, he travelled constantly throughout the country to speak on behalf of other people with disabilities and also actively lobbied in Washington D.C. In September 2007, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act (H.R. 1727) to be considered by the full House, a bill intended to improve the quality of life for those with spinal cord injuries. Last week during the NYC Marathon, Team Reeve, made up of 50 runners, raised $400,000 for the foundation.