
I think Will Reeve has been on the hearts and
minds of all parents as he suffers the loss of his mother, Dana Reeve. As parents, it is instinctual to want to protect
children. But no one can give back what was taken from Will, or protect him from the pain. It is comforting to know he
is surrounded by an abundance of love and support.
Thursday evening,
Inside Edition reported Lance Armstrong spent Wednesday with 13-year-old Will
Reeve, less than two days after his mother, Dana Reeve, died of lung cancer. “I would say that his spirits were
pretty good considering that, in the last 18 months, he’s lost his father, his mother and his grandmother,”
stated Armstrong during the television interview. “In situations like this, all you can do is say, ‘Hey
buddy, I’m here if you want to go hang out, if you want to play games, whatever you want to do, I’m
here.”’
Armstrong said he became close to Will as he spent time with Will during the last few
months of his mother's life. “I love hanging with him,” Armstrong said. “I never thought I’d
say that about a 13-year-old, but he’s a great kid. He’s a big sports fan. He’s an athlete himself.
Will is not your normal 13-year-old. He’s a smart, well-adjusted, mature, humble kid.”
Tuesday,
Armstrong was a speaker at a motivational conference in Montreal, when he was told of Dana Reeve's death. "Now
that Dana Reeve has unfortunately passed away, it brings a whole new level of awareness to the disease and I think
Peter Jennings' passing was huge for cancer. We don't ever want to lose anybody, but when Peter Jennings dies of lung
cancer, people say, 'oh, my god, what - Peter Jennings died?'" Armstrong said.
Armstrong feels that
high profile survivors and cancer victims both contribute to awareness about the disease. He also said that he hopes
high-profile deaths will bring attention to the fact that more needs to be done in the fight against cancer. "It's
been a long time since we decided to fight this war and we're not doing enough," Armstrong said.