# Dana Reeve dead at 47 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369 "2006-03-07T13:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/21 "2006-03-08T04:01:11Z")
My Mom died of liver cancer at 64, and she was no drinker. Had no unhealthy habits at all, in fact. She was a phys.ed. teacher, exercised regularly, did ballroom dancing as a hobby, gardening as her other hobby, didn’t smoke, watched her diet. Who knows why these things happen? Not the doctors, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/22 "2006-03-08T05:38:47Z")
She may have had adenocarcinoma, a non-small-cell lung cancer not generally linked to smoking. There are many types of NSCL cancers, but women seem quite taken by adenocarcinoma. Small Cell Lung Cancer, however, is thought to be almost exclusively caused by smoking. Honestly, we don’t know enough from media reports about the specific type of lung cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/23 "2006-03-08T06:45:13Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > I just know the irreverent wiseacres at **The Onion** will do a number on this story. Maybe a short squib along the lines of “God compassionately reunites Dana and Christopher Reeve,” or perhaps an interview with God, who tries to explain how He decides these things. (A _reductio ab adsurdum_ piece if there ever was one.) Well, on the subject of tasteless ‘humor’ of sorts, I have to admit that I sort of chuckled when I looked at [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) today (still there as of this writing though of course subject to change) and under their VIDEO options you’ll read this: > [@](#): > > Dana Reeve Dies of Lung Cancer… WATCH! (1:21) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/24 "2006-03-08T10:09:22Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was saying that she **must have** been exposed to secondhand smoke. I have no idea what the situation was for her specifically. I just felt that since we were on the subject of non-smokers getting lung cancer, it was a good time to point out that many cases of non-smokers getting lung cancer can be attributed to secondhand smoke exposure. I could see some smokers looking at this death and rationalizing “What’s the point of stopping smoking if you might get it even if you never smoke?” or something along those lines and I guess I was trying to preemptively address that. _shrug_ Sorry if that seemed like jumping to conclusions. I never took it that way. No apologies needed from my perspective. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/25 "2006-03-08T10:18:04Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Not sure how to reconcile the different figures. Maybe it’s 20% non-smoking **women** and the 2% is the **total** non-smoking lung cancer victims (both men and women)? I’ve never heard 2%. I’ve heard 10% men, 20% women, and 13 or 14% overall. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369/26 "2006-03-14T15:42:09Z")
[Here](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/399217p-338257c.html) is Rob Bartlett’s tribute to Dana, who played his wife in his stage show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dana-reeve-dead-at-47/347369.md?page=1)