Posted on 11/04/2004 11:45:38 AM PST by Justaham
Now that election is over, can we unit to pray for Elizabeth Edwards, diagnosed with breast cancer. What she has is an invasive type of cancer, which means that it could spread throughout her body in 3-6 months. ---------------- By RON FOURNIER and RANDOLPH SCHMID, Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON - Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites), was diagnosed with breast cancer the day her husband and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) conceded the presidential race.
AP Photo
AP Photo Slideshow: Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards Diagnosed with Breast Cancer (AP Video)
Related Links • Elizabeth Edwards Profile (JohnEdwards2004.com)
Spokesman David Ginsberg said Mrs. Edwards, 55, discovered a lump in her right breast while on a campaign trip last week. Her family doctor told her Friday that it appeared to be cancerous and advised her to see a specialist when she could.
She put off the appointment until Wednesday so as not to miss campaign time.
The Edwards family went straight to Massachusetts General Hospital from Boston's Faneuil Hall after Kerry and Edwards conceded on Wednesday.
Mrs. Edwards had a needle biopsy performed at the hospital, where Dr. Barbara Smith confirmed the cancer, Ginsberg said.
He said the cancer was diagnosed as invasive ductal cancer. That is the most common type of breast cancer, and can spread from the milk ducts to other parts of the breast or beyond.
More tests were being done to determine how far the cancer has advanced and how to treat it, he said.
Ginsberg said spirits are high at the Edwards household. "Everybody feels good about it, that this is beatable," he said.
Edwards, who leaves his North Carolina Senate seat in January, said in a statement, "Elizabeth is as strong a person as I've ever known. Together, our family will beat this."
The American Cancer Society (news - web sites) estimated that nearly 216,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
Treatments have been getting better. The current five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 87 percent, up from 78 percent in the mid-1980s. About 40,000 women die of breast cancer annually.
Overall, the society says about one in seven women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
Invasive ductal cancer accounts for 65 percent to 80 percent of all breast cancers, according to the Merck Manual of Medical Information.
Treatment usually begins with surgery, according to the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites). This could involve removal of the cancer itself and usually nearby lymph nodes. Lumpectomy, just removing the cancerous mass, is becoming more common, though sometimes removal of the whole breast is done.
Surgery can be followed by chemotherapy, radiation or hormone therapy.
Radiation can focus on a cancer site from a machine outside the body or use a radioactive substance placed near the cancer in "seeds" or via needle.
Chemotherapy uses drugs that can stop or slow the growth of cancer that may have spread.
Hormone therapy removes or blocks hormones that can encourage growth of cancer cells.
In early stages of cancer a combination of the drug tamoxifen and hormone therapy is commonly used, the Cancer Institute reports.
The Edwardses married in 1977. They have two daughters, Cate and Emma Claire and a son, Jack. Son Wade died in a 1996 traffic accident.
Mrs. Edwards, born in Jacksonville, Fla., grew up hopscotching between the United States and Japan. She met her future husband at University of North Carolina law school.
She juggled a successful legal career and family for 19 years. Then — stunned by Wade's death — she quit work to have more children at an age when many contemporaries were easing toward grandmotherhood.
On the campaign, she dubbed herself the "anti-Barbie," a quick-witted, down-to-earth political wife who connected particularly well with mothers and fathers.
Those posts were probably swarmed by DU-trolls posting classless comments on our behalf.
Prayers going up for a fellow human being suffering with a terrible disease. May she fully recover.
Best wishes to Mrs. Edwards for a complete and speedy recovery.
I laughed out loud at your comment and #7.
Thankfully, we freepers have enough class to sincerely wish her the best for a full recovery (which I do), but we wouldn't be human if we didn't have the immediate thoughts we've expressed, such as your comment. I cannot help but to think that any doctor who takes her case knows he had BETTER CURE her or he's looking at going to jail and losing everything he has.
Politics aside, she is in my thoughts and prayers. <><
| BREAKING. John Edwards' wife diagnosed with breast cancer- Fox News |
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| Posted by crushelits On 11/04/2004 9:47:38 AM PST · 362 replies · 9,984+ views crushelits ^ | nOV. 04, 2004 | crushelits BREAKING. John Edwards wife diagnosed with breats cancer- Fox News |
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Yes, and we would all be praying for her even if they had won. A great tragedy to have that horrible disease.
It will only happen if it is His will. I will pray.
My Mom was diagnosed with cancer two weeks ago. She is 72 years old. She has had Parkinson’s for six years. I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone. I do think that there is a connection between anxiety and stress and diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s. I also think that for a person with a conscience, maligning the character of another human being could cause him/her a great deal of anxiety and stress. I think Mrs. Edwards has a conscience. That is much more than I could say for the two Johns.
She and her family have my prayers. My mom was a breast cancer survivor, so I know first hand how news of a diagnosis like this can be devastating for a family. I pray that she and her family successfully come through the ordeal they have ahead of them. A word of advice from me to them would be to maintain a positive attitude, and a daily dose of laughter. That's almost as important as a good doctor.
pattyjo
How awful. She is a young woman. I join the rest of you in wishing her a speedy recovery.
She "postponed" seeing a doctor and that is very unwise. Females, please exam yourselves. This is treatable if caught early enough.
May Elizabeth Edwards triumph over her illness, may a graciouse Deity assist.
She's in my prayers.
"Has she found a doctor that will take the risk of treating her?"
Ouch.
I've known 2 survivors and one aunt that didn't survive. Like all Freepers,I wish this on no one.
I wish her speedy recovery.
I also feel sorry for the M.D. who will treat her.....
My heart is already broken for her children. Many prayers for a miracle recovery.
One has to wonder how much the hormones they shot her up with when she was 50 so she could concieve the two little photo-ops contributed to this.
My sympathy to her and I wish her a speedy recovery.
You're first paragraph was totally out of line IMHO.
While I have absolutely no ill will towards this person, why must you think that just because she got breast cancer that all of a sudden she must be some friggin' saint?
She is a very mean-spirited woman IMO, who had absolutely NO CONSCIENCE in trashing our great VP's family for political gain. And hey, don't forget, she married a completely soul-less ambulance-chasing Clinton B*ttl*cker, and her entire fortune revolves around that man's malicious and almost entirely ungrounded lawsuits.
Like I said, I mean no harm to the poor woman, but she is no friggin' saint!!!
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