Lance Lends Support to Will Reeve
03/10/2006 at 07:00 AM EST
Lance Armstrong spent Wednesday morning with Will Reeve, the 13-year-old son of Christopher and Dana Reeve, just two days after Dana's death from lung cancer, the Associated Press reports.
Armstrong, who had become close to the boy during his mother's illness, told "Inside Edition" that Reeve was doing pretty well considering what he had been through in the last year and a half.
"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," Armstrong said.
Christopher Reeve, who had been almost completely paralyzed since a 1995 horse-riding accident, passed away in 2004 following complications from an infection. Dana's mother died unexpectedly last year following surgery for ovarian cancer. Dana, a nonsmoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer last August.
Dana and Will Reeve
Jimi Celeste / PMc
Armstrong is no stranger to tragedy himself. The cyclist overcame cancer to win the Tour de France seven times, and recently Sheryl Crow, Armstrong's former fiancée, revealed she has breast cancer.
Armstrong acknowledged the difficulty in dealing with a situation like Will's.
"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.
