Christopher Reeve's Children Are All Working to Maintain Their Father's Legacy

Thanks to the level of fame Christopher Reeve achieved and because of his tragic story, his legacy has continued to outlive him. The actor's story has been maintained in part thanks to his three children, who are each working to preserve their father's legacy.

Although Will, Alexandra, and Matthew Reeve all lead wildly different lives, they all come together to work on the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing spinal cord injury research and enhancing the quality of life for those living with paralysis. Here's what we know about where each of Christopher's children is now.

Matthew and Alexandra, Christopher's two oldest children, came from his marriage to Gae Exton, which ended in 1987. After their relationship ended, Christopher had William with Dana Reeve, who he was married to until he died.

Matthew followed his father into the world of entertainment and has directed and produced several documentaries, including more than one about his late father. Even as he has worked to tell his father's story, Matthew has also remained engaged with his parents' foundation.

Alexandra works as a litigator and has taught at both Georgetown and Columbia Law Schools. She named her first son Christopher Russell Reeve, after her late father. She is now the CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a non-partisan nonprofit that works to protect the digital civil rights of Americans.

Will, meanwhile, works as a journalist and is currently a correspondent for ABC News and Good Morning America.

Christopher's children have maintained a close connection in part because they lost their father when he was just 52 years old. Christopher was confined to a wheelchair following a 1995 equestrian accident in which he fell off his horse and sustained a severe neck injury. Just nine years later, while he was receiving treatment for an infected pressure sore, he experienced a sudden cardiac arrest, slipped into a coma, and died.

In the years between his accident and his death, Christopher emerged as an advocate for those with disabilities, and his foundation was meant to be an extension of that work. Following his death, Dana assumed responsibility for the foundation that they had founded together.

Unfortunately, just a year after Christopher's death, Dana was diagnosed with lung cancer, even though she had never smoked. In 2006, she died of lung cancer at just 44 years old, when her son was still a teenager.

Despite all the loss that Christopher's children experienced during their childhoods, they seemed to have formed a bond in part through the hardships that they experienced together. They also looked at their father's example for inspiration. "He found himself in a position he definitely wouldn't have chosen, but he definitely chose to embrace it. A spinal cord injury doesn't just happen to the individual it happens to the whole family," Matthew said.