we were just creatures in heaven ♪ ♪ i don't think i realize just how much i miss you sometimes ♪ ♪ for a moment we were just we were just creatures in heaven ♪ [ cheers and applause ] remembering christopher reeve. superman turned real life hero. his children matthew, alexandra and our will on their father's life and legacy and the accident that changed everything. >> my first words were just, you know i love you. we're here.

how? >> his wife dana pulled him out of despair and kept their family together. >> as long as it's rooted in love, it doesn't matter what your family looks like, as long as it's yours. >> their journey forward together and dana's cancer diagnosis. >> and to then have to tell him. you know that now i have cancer. i thought, how much can one little soul bear? >> how the reeve children supported each other after their parents deaths. >> it's a human story. we had human parents who did superhuman things. >> now telling their families inspiring story. this special edition of nightline, superman the life and legacy of the life and legacy of christopher reeve. we'll be shake up your shower with a flavor for every feeling. this dove freshens you up. this dove winds you down. this dove leaves you glowing. and this dove keeps you going. so whatever care you care about, there's a dove for every body. lactaid is 100% real milk,

just without the lactose. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin. nothing like enjoying a cold one while watching the game. who's winning? we are, my friend. we are. grow the system, exploit the system. take mark farrell's record. after receiving the largest ethics fine in city history for breaking campaign laws. mark authorized a commission almost every year he was in office. he was even caught taking donations from people he would then appoint to commissions, including a felon convicted of bribery. san francisco's challenges demand urgency, not more of the same failed insiders.

>> thanks for joining us tonight. the tragic and inspiring story of christopher reeve and his courageous wife, dana. the iconic actor who brought superman to life on the big screen. the wonderful husband and father to matthew, alexandra and our own will reeve. the new documentary, superman the christopher reeve story takes us inside their life together before and after the catastrophic injury that left him paralyzed. here's abc's diane sawyer. reporter tonight,

a superhero streaking across the sky. >> for almost ten years, christopher reeve embodied superman. the mythic american champion of justice. an actor so gifted, it's no surprise that in real life, there was nothing he couldn't do. he was an airplane pilot, an expert sailor, a diver. ice hockey. soccer. and by the way, he was also a juilliard trained pianist who would lead the family sing alongs. that's little will at the piano. will matthew remembering those happy days, even if they weren't exactly the von trapps? okay, now i'm going to play. okay. the von trapps. >> the von trapps? >> no. >> what did you play? the bassoon. all day. why

>> the happy days that always seem endless. until the day that changes everything. almost 30 years ago, 42 year old christopher reeve, a champion horseback rider, had an accident that was at once freakishly random and catastrophic. he was wearing a helmet. it was just a three foot jump. but the horse balked, and all 200 pounds of reeve's body weight landed on his neck. when he spoke of it with barbara walters, he was now paralyzed from the neck down and on a ventilator. >> i went forward, i had the great misfortune. to get my hand stuck in the horse's bridle. it's like going over with your hands tied. and that's why i landed straight on my head. >> it is his wife, dana, who will pull him out of his despair. >> and then she said the words saved my life. you're still you.

and i love you. >> in the new documentary superman, it is also dana who will prepare their two year old son will and her 11 and 15 year old stepchildren. for the moment, they walk in to the machines, the tubes, and a dad so radically changed. >> dana walked us down and she said, it's going to look really scary, but he's still there. just talk to him. ignore everything else. just talk to him. and so i remember and she said, you can hold his hand. and it has machines on it, you know. and you still reaching and holding his fingers as far as i remember, my first words were just, you know, i love you. >> we're here. >> i think in an effort to make sure that i wasn't terrified of my dad permanently, my mom made sure that i was involved, as was reasonable, and that included always being near him and touching him and helping. >> oh, good. that's great. well thanks. >> when they get home from the

hospital, their injured father, their valiant mother, began teaching how a wounded family can still be a family. i hear you all saying, don't let anyone tell you what family is. >> absolutely. no matter the contours of a family, no matter how scraggly the branches on the family tree might be, as long as it's rooted in love, it doesn't matter what your family looks like, as long as it's yours. >> somehow, their mother and dad created happy routines. every child loves. >> whether it was good news, bad news, scary news. dinner was family time. how was school? they sat at the head next to each other. my mom would feed him and herself. we had friends dropping by. it was a very happ, robust, loud. everything you would want from a family dinner. and that was every night. and the one thing you weren't allowed to talk about was specific medical stuff. it could be anything else. >> and like all kids, they

search for ways to make dad laugh. >> matthew, at one point in college, came back with a gift to dad, and it was an eject button to put on the hand of his wheelchair right by his finger. and dad loved that. oh my god, you know, someone's there in a serious meeting with christopher reeve, and they suddenly look at his wheelchair and they're just seeing this eject button, and you kind of see it register on their face, like to ask to not ask, what do we do? >> the house was always full of music. she was always just bursting into song about a village gone to ruin by a girl called abigail. >> it was one of the things i miss most for sure. >> dana reeve was a professional singer. it's how she met their dad, christopher. >> mom was always singing. always while she's making me my after school snack. while she's taking me up to bed. whatever she was always singing and i, being ten, 11 years old, i'd be like, mom, stop! so annoying. i'm trying to watch the show. >> or like, why are you always

singing my friends moms don't sing all the time. like just being 11, right? >> and she would be like, oh, okay. sorry. like or she would ratchet up the volume to needle me. hindsight is 2020, but i wish that i had asked her to sing more, because when i think about her, that's where i go. the. >> the moments were. we're the quiet moments of safety happiness and normalcy and togetherness. >> like just we didn't to be in the same room. but i knew where she was. i missed that. >> the lasting memory of a mother's comforting lullaby. this pretty planet, this pretty

planet spinning through space. >> your garden. you're a harbor. you're a holy place. golden sun going down. gentle blue giant. spin us around all through the night. safe till the morning light. >> only later would her son read his mother's diaries. and learned the magnitude of the loss she endured privately. every day. >> i found this in one of her journals. >> i've been studying the difference between solitude and loneliness, telling the story of my life to the clean white towels taken warm from the dryer and held to my chest a sad substitute for a body pulled in close. i miss most even now. his

hands, the expressive grace and heft of them, the heat of his hands on my skin, the wrap of his arms two becoming one i carry the stack of towels upstairs, carefully cradling them so as not to let them tumble. save one still damp the top one i had pressed against my face, which needs more time for drying. enduring. that's what she had lost. when my da >> nightline. superman the life and legacy of christopher reeve and legacy of christopher reeve will be right back now i have skyrizi.

♪ i've got places to go and i'm feeling free ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me ♪ ♪ control is everything to me ♪ and now i'm back in the picture. feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi helped visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. and with skyrizi, many were in remission at 12 weeks, at 1 year, and even at 2 years. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. ask your gastroenterologist how to take control of your crohn's with skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. if you're living with hiv, imagine being good to go without daily hiv pills.

good to go off the grid. good to go nonstop. with cabenuva, there's no pausing for daily hiv pills. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. it's two injections from a healthcare provider. just 6 times a year. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or if you're taking certain medicines which may interact with cabenuva. serious side effects include allergic reactions, post-injection reactions, liver problems, and depression. if you have a rash and other allergic reaction symptoms, stop cabenuva and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems, mental health concerns, and if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or considering pregnancy. some of the most common side effects include injection-site reactions, fever, and tiredness. with cabenuva, you're good to go. ask your doctor about switching.

>> doctor, welcome aboard the odyssey. wouldn't it be nice? our mission is to preserve the dream and that's why you're here. keep these dreamers safe. i'm in. and this is not a real company, but there is no way to fake how upwork can help your business.

search talent all over the world with over 10,000 skills you may not have in house. more than 30% of the fortune 500 use upwork because this is how we work now. .

>> welcome back. after christopher reeve's devastating injury, the actor relied on his indomitable spirit and the unwavering love of his family to strive for research and progress not only for himself but as an opportunity to help others. his hope boundless. here again, abc's diane sawyer, ladies and gentlemen, christopher reeve. >> it is ten months after his shocking horseback riding accident. christopher reeve is

at the oscars. and seeing him for the first time there. supersonic superman, who can now travel only as fast as his wheelchair. >> what? you probably don't know is that i left new york last september. and i just arrived here this morning. i did missed this kind of welcome for the world. thank you. >> his fellow actors remember how he was once their impossibly handsome, six foot four inch colleague, but he started out as a skinny kid from new york. >> here he is in the superman screen test. he set out with ferocity to train his body. >> the point is that when i

started, i was a string bean and superman is not a string bean. the thing that happens is that the stronger i get, the more it helps my mental attitude towards the part. >> and the string bean in that audition succeeded in becoming the muscular superhero who could save mankind. now a paralyzed man was still filled with superhuman hope that someday he could will himself to walk again. he created a foundation which has invested more than $140 million in research and has helped others to stand to walk. but as the years go by, the miracles he sought for himself never came. his fingers moved slightly. he celebrates, he strains, struggles to make his legs move, and he worked so hard to prove to the doctor that he can breathe without a ventilator. >> i was hoping that we'd find some response from the diaphragm when we stimulated the nerve. we didn't. >> the doctor gives him bad news.

>> i understand. ok thank you. >> eventually, surgery will help him breathe on his own. a little, at times for hours a day. his older children from a previous relationship, matthew and alexandra, would spend hours sitting with him in his office. >> there were days where he was getting major setbacks, devastating medical news, you know, or changes on a policy fight that he was fighting. and he had lost that battle, and he would let us see the hope and the disappointment and say, today is a really hard day. and then you would say, and we're going to go get dinner together or let's go watch a movie. he would see us. he would let us see him take that journey back up. >> alexandra and i are both parents now. you can understand where that sort of extra level of determination and perseverance would come from. >> and day after day he looked for ways to be the dad his little boy needs.

>> daddy's in his off road vehicle. >> my dad taught me how to ride a bike, which is quite remarkable considering he wasn't able to move. >> how does it feel to be riding your bike, sir? good >> and then after nine valiant years in 2004, christopher reeve's body suddenly gives out. he falls into a coma. his wife dana races to him. >> she came flying in and she just yelled, i love you. i love you! over and over again, making sure he could hear it. she was going to reach him. >> certainly a part of her had just died in that moment. as well. and i told him that i loved him. i would do whatever i could to make him proud

>> and then he was gone. >> i promised to love, honor and cherish him till death did us part. well, i can't do that because i will love. and cherish him forever to you. >> and then, ten months after christopher reeve's death, the unimaginable. the mother who had held the family together with her light. her song is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. dana reeve had never smoked. we talked about the wrenching moment she realized she had to give her 12 year old son will the news, and to then have to tell him, you know that now i have cancer. >> it just, i thought, how much

can one little soul bear, dana reeve, arranges for will to live with the family of his best friend. >> and then after seven months fighting the cancer, she dies at the age of 44. >> despite the love and security that my siblings provided, me and my family provided me and my adoptive family provides me, that was the moment. march 6th, 2006. that was. i've been alone since then with extraordinary love. >> his older siblings, alexandra, who was then a law student, and matthew, a producer, would drop everything in their lives when their little brother needed them. so in our interview, will has a question he says he's never asked them before. >> did you find it difficult that did people worry enough about you? >> that like it like wasn't the issue? like, i don't think i've

ever thought about that either. like the job at hand was keeping things going, like keeping it, keeping us okay, keeping everyone okay, honoring them in the right way, setting you up for success. >> i think our greatest focus and, front of mind was, was you and i'm in awe of both of you. and, how you've, you know, carried yourself and continue to carry yourself and, yeah, a family like any other teaching the rest of us about finding a path through loss to strength and love. >> there's a universal story in here, and it's not about a famous person in a cape and tights. it's about a family. it's a human story. we had human parents who did superhuman things. >> our thanks to diane, this

special edition of nightline special edition of nightline will be right back like humira or remicade? put them in check with rinvoq. rinvoq works differently and it's a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and visibly reduced damage. check, check and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc and crohn's in check and keep them there with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq.

and learn how abbvie can help you save. using these type of cleansers could be damaging and stripping your skin. i use new olay cleansing melts every day. just soak, activate and wash. to clean, tone and refresh. that's a 3x better clean. olay. this isn't charmin! no wonder i don't feel as clean! here's charmin ultra strong. ahhh! my bottom's been saved! with its diamond weave texture, charmin ultra strong cleans better with fewer sheets and less effort. enjoy the go with charmin. to laugh when sebastian maniscalco comes back to good morning

is it possible to count on my internet like my customers count on me? it is with comcast business. keeping you up and running with our 99.9% network reliability. and security that helps outsmart threats to your data. moaire dida twoo? -your data, too. there's even round-the- clock customer support. so you can be there for your customers.

with comcast business, reliability isn't just possible. it's happening. switch to reliable comcast business internet with security and get started for $49.99 a month. plus ask how to get up to a $500 prepaid card. call today! they say the hardest part of getting something done let's go! hustle! is getting started. well, we did that 30 years ago, when california first took on the tobacco industry. this is not just about access. it's about the message it sends... now smoking is down 60 percent. lung cancer 42 percent. a couple of our cities have already ended tobacco sales. a california without big tobacco isn't just possible, it's already happening.

>> our thanks again to diane sawyer and to the reeves for sharing their family's enduring love story. superman the christopher reeve story is set for a limited theatrical release in u.s. theaters september 21st and 25th, with tickets available via fathom events. and that's nightline for tonight. you can watch all of our episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night. america >> more americans choose abc news, america's number one news source. >> sex, lies and a double murder. >> two small children were kidnaped. >> your mom and dad are going to be right here waiting on you when you get home. >> when the twist came, then it completely exploded. >> it's one of the craziest stories i've ever heard. and people don't know about it. >> what kind of mother would kill her own children? after nearly 30 years in prison, smith now has a chance at parole. >> could the woman o