Will Reeve Was Orphaned at 13 — Here's Who Took Care of Him: 'Everybody Came Through' (Exclusive)

Seventeen months after losing his dad, Christopher Reeve, to heart failure, Will's mother, Dana, died of cancer. Here's what happened to the young teen next

Will Reeve was just three years old when his dad, Superman actor Christopher Reeve, was paralyzed from the neck down in a horse riding accident. Eight years later, after living an inspiring life as a quadriplegic, Christopher died of heart failure at the age of 52 in 2004.

The family was still in mourning when the unthinkable happened: Will's mother, Dana Reeve, who had devoted herself to caring for her husband while also being a phenomenal mom to Will, was diagnosed with lung cancer despite never having smoked.

Just 17 months after the death of her husband, Dana tragically died in March 2006, leaving Will an orphan at 13.

"That's when I realized I was completely alone," the 32-year-old says in the film Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.

Related: Why Christopher Reeve's Kids Are Celebrating His Joyous Life in 'Unflinching' Doc That Doesn't Hide His Flaws (Exclusive)

However, Will tells PEOPLE that he received an extraordinary amount of support from family and friends.

"I moved in with our beloved neighbors who were our best friends," he explains of what happened next. "And that's been such an unlikely, amazing experience for almost 20 years."

Related: Christopher Reeve Allowed Himself 20 Minutes of Self-Pity Each Day After Accident (Exclusive)

His older half-siblings, Matthew and Alexandra, were also fixtures in his life, acting as parental figures as much as they were siblings.

"Matthew and Al, always in my life, not just in the hard times, have been sources of such strength and support and joy and love for me," he says.

"I mean, everybody came through," he adds. " I think it was an all-hands-on-deck situation. My maternal grandparents, Charles and Helen Morini, were unbelievably indispensable. And we were fortunate enough to live in a tight-knit community. We had big groups of friends and teachers and coaches and people from the past and people from the present just chipping in however they could always."

He says, "It's like they say, it takes a village. And the village responded to our situation in such a substantial and impactful way."

As much as he felt supported and loved, he still missed his mother desperately — and always will.

"My mom was maybe the most special person ever to grace this earth," he says of Dana. "My mom's predilection for caregiving and showing compassion to all she encountered was innate to her. She didn't have to wake up every day and decide to take care of our family. It's who she was."

He says these days, he puts in the work in therapy to navigate the profound losses.

"Putting one foot in front of the other does not mean ignoring the issue. It just means that you carry on, but you bring the baggage with you, and you still have to soldier on," Will explains.

He continues, "Grief is permanent. The people we love who we lose are gone forever from this earth, but we carry their memories, their spirit, and their values with us forever. And by orienting ourselves around the love that we feel for those we have lost, we honor them. And that helps us heal."

For tickets to see Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, visit Fathom Events.

To read more about Christopher Reeve's extraordinary life, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

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