Christopher Reeve would have turned 70 this year; son says "his legacy is never going to go away"

Christopher Reeve was not just an iconic actor but his charitable endeavors and relentless activism made a tremendous impact on people around the world. The actor best known for his role as Superman would have turned 70 years old this year. His son Will paid tribute to his late father on what would have been his 70th birthday. Will shared a photo of the Superman actor on set, captioning it, "70 🤯 Happy birthday, Big Cheese!" He shared a picture of his dad in his iconic Superman costume seemingly on the set of the film. 

Reeve's life took a drastic turn when he was thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition roadblock test in 1995. He was 42 years old at the time when the accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. The incident was so shocking as the fall could have resulted in so many different outcomes.  If he had fallen one centimeter further to the left, he would have died instantly. If he had fallen to the right, he would have made it out with less than a concussion. But fate had other plans.

When all hope seemed lost it was Dana, Reeve's wife, who gave him the extra push to keep carrying forward.  "You're still you. And I love you," she said and that gave the actor the willpower he needed to "grab on to life" according to The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. "When Dana whispered those life-saving words to me, ‘You’re still you. And I love you,’ it meant more to me than just a personal declaration of faith and commitment. In a sense it was an affirmation that marriage and family stood at the center of everything, and if both were intact, so was your universe," he said.

The tragedy did not deter the actor's spirit. He was determined to help others just like him. He started the charity organization The Reeve Foundation in 1999 that continues to be committed  "to curing spinal cord injury by advancing innovative research and improving quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis," according to its official website. His son Will couldn't be prouder of his parents who worked tirelessly to help others in need. Sadly, Dana died of lung cancer in 2006 and Reeve passed away due to heart failure in 2004. Despite the pain of losing both his parents, Will is confident their legacies will live on.

“I think his legacy is never going to go away and think that is a responsibility that I feel, to carry his and my mother’s legacy on for the rest of my life and hopefully beyond that,” Will told PEOPLE. “I think that the foundation is one way, one tangible way, that his legacy and my mom’s legacy will always live on. And I think the way that I, and my siblings, live our lives is another way. And I think that his impact is felt by the millions of lives that he touched.” The 30-year-old news anchor also believes that his father "had an impact on the world well beyond his fleeting fame for being in movies. And I think that he was a change agent in the world, and those are the people who last, and that is why he has lasted.”

Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images/ Matthew Peyton; (R) Instagram/ @willreeve_