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Edwards to Continue '08 Bid Despite Wife's Cancer
The New York Times ^ | 3/22/07 | John Broder & Christine Hauser

Posted on 03/22/2007 10:15:46 AM PDT by mngran

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 22 _ — John Edwards, the North Carolina Democrat, said today that his wife’s cancer had returned, but that his bid for the presidency “goes on strongly.”

“The campaign goes on, the campaign goes on strongly,” he said, with his wife, Elizabeth, at his side.

Mr. Edwards said he learned earlier this week that the cancer had reappeared in his wife’s rib cage and that the couple recognized that it was no longer curable, though it could be managed with treatment.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: campaign; edwards; johnedwards; johnfaggotedwards
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To: finnman69

Define soon. It's not like she is going to drop dead tomorrow or in a couple of months. It is possible that she could be alive and well 10 years from now. The odds may not be favorable, but people beat the odds. So how, exactly do you think it would help her for him to say "hon, I'm staying home because you are going to be dead soon?"


201 posted on 03/22/2007 12:54:57 PM PDT by rhetorica
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To: seanmerc

Perhaps. I am married to a "steamroller" and know that flattened feeling. I have also been abandoned at critical times during healthcare crises. I pray that won't happen to her, but given the demands of campaigning, it is likely despite everyone's best intentions. Prayers for all concerned.


202 posted on 03/22/2007 1:03:17 PM PDT by Bookwoman
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To: mngran

" the cancer had reappeared in his wife’s rib cage and that the couple recognized that it was no longer curable"

And the guy thinks his calling is to campaign and BE president?

Wow...


203 posted on 03/22/2007 1:04:03 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
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To: rhetorica

Denial (from Kuebler Ross) is perhaps the most difficult step in accepting your mortality, then anger. She will resent his not being there for this process. A freind was diagnosed with lung cancer, six weeks later he's gone. He accepted it quickly and was able to pull together finances and other matters so his wife wasn't overwhelmed when the end came.

So yeah it would help for him to be there because she may be dead soon.


204 posted on 03/22/2007 1:06:32 PM PDT by reluctantwarrior (Strength and Honor, just call me Buzzkill for short......)
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To: mngran

I knew she was a goner the minute I heard that, too. :( My StepMom died two years ago from bone cancer that started as breast cancer. She was in remission for about 7 years when it came back with a vengence. It's very common, and it is a death sentence. And it is extremely painful, so Mrs. Edwards does not have a lot to look forward to with this evil disease. Prayers up for her.

If I were her, I'd be traveling the globe with my kids while I still had my strength. What a schmuck of a husband John Edwards is.


205 posted on 03/22/2007 1:09:57 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Dittos...

I love your tagline


206 posted on 03/22/2007 1:12:27 PM PDT by reluctantwarrior (Strength and Honor, just call me Buzzkill for short......)
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To: mngran

Why not spend as much time with their CHILDREN?? I don't get it. Running for President takes you away from your family for a ton of time.


207 posted on 03/22/2007 1:12:47 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
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To: MovementConservative

This has a whiff of Paul Wellstone's sons screaming about WINNING at his parents' and sisters MEMORIAL! All that matters is winning the election? ick.


208 posted on 03/22/2007 1:15:22 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her Phoniness is Genuine!!!)
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To: Gumdrop

Indeed. That may be the most important question, who's going to be looking after the children? Mrs. Edwards will be exhausted by further treatments and these children will need their father very much in the weeks and months ahead. In a situation like this, it's not only the children that will need a father, but a wife who will need a supportive, loving, available husband.

My heart goes out to the Edwards' and their family in this tragic turn of events, but I can't help but shake my head in wonder and disbelief at some of the decisions being made.


209 posted on 03/22/2007 1:24:53 PM PDT by khnyny
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To: reluctantwarrior

Don't underestimate the power of denial. There is bone cancer and there is bone cancer. If they caught hers in the early stages of metastsing then there is a liklihood that it can be kept stable for a number of years. It has to do with how many bones it is in and to what extent. My mother was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in January with mets to the spine. Radiation killed the spine tumor very quickly. Chemo is now at work on the lung tumor. Her doctor is optomistic that her cancer can be stablaized and she has some good life to live yet. She's not ready to wait to die and all I'm saying is that if Elizabeth Edwards isn't, that's her call, not ours. You cope the best way you can and for some people that's to keep things as normal as possible for as long as possible.


210 posted on 03/22/2007 1:40:30 PM PDT by rhetorica
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To: tiki

That doesn't sound like denial, it sounds like your MIL was/is a nutcase. Denying a dying cancer patient pain medication? Dogs receive more compassion and better treatment.

It's interesting that you don't talk about how your husband did or did not "handle" his mother and his father's illness, but it seems you were the one trying to talk some sense into the MIL. It also seems odd that the doctor involved in the case had no say over his patient's treatment.


211 posted on 03/22/2007 1:41:32 PM PDT by khnyny
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To: HereInTheHeartland

not curable and not treatable are two different things. I wish to God I didn't know this, but I do.


212 posted on 03/22/2007 1:41:39 PM PDT by rhetorica
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To: mngran

God bless her! I pray for her and her family. I'd never vote for John Edwards, but he and his family have my prayers.


213 posted on 03/22/2007 1:45:32 PM PDT by ContraryMary (New Jersey -- Superfund cleanup capital of the U.S.A.)
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To: reluctantwarrior

Kay Yow is one of my heroes. As the head basketball coach for the NC State women's team, she is taking her team to the Sweet 16 this weekend despite undergoing chemo and biologic treatments for advanced breast cancer. This woman had the choice of giving up and waiting to die, or fighting on and teaching young women about the power of faith and perserverence. Last fall you might have told her to stop living because she'd be dead in a year. But she looked at that year and said, I might as well have something to show for it. I'll chose the fighting spirits of the Kay Yows (and yes, Elizabeth Edwards) any day over the folks who believe that all is lost from the moment they hear the diagnosis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/sports/ncaabasketball/18yow.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


214 posted on 03/22/2007 1:53:25 PM PDT by rhetorica
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To: rhetorica

It's not so much he needs to be with her as she dies, but to be with her as she lives, and with luck survives.

At least that's what I would do.


215 posted on 03/22/2007 1:56:41 PM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: OESY

OMG is that his wife? She's lost 50-75 pounds since her last go-around of public appearances, and she looks ashen-gray. If Stage IV, then I'd give her 6 months, tops.


216 posted on 03/22/2007 2:00:19 PM PDT by Remole
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To: mngran
My mother-in-law was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer in Jan 1996. She was doing well after a mastectomy and chemo, then in April 1996 she ate some cotija cheese contaminated with Listeria at a Mexican restaurant. Meningitis quickly followed because of the suppression of her immune system by the chemo. She couldn't tolerate the chemo after the meningitis nearly killed her. The cancer roared back and she passed in May 1996.

I suspect Mrs Edwards won't be around by 2008. The decision to stay in the race will ensure he doesn't get elected and does waste what little time Mrs Edwards has left.

217 posted on 03/22/2007 2:02:05 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: rhetorica

The steps can be done in five minutes if you are strong and decide to live, denial isn't about giving up its denying you have the disease. Anger is the it isn't fair stage, acceptance isn't giving up its fighting in an informed and enlightened way.


218 posted on 03/22/2007 2:02:10 PM PDT by reluctantwarrior (Strength and Honor, just call me Buzzkill for short......)
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To: finnman69

And i repect you enough to allow you to make that decision for yourselves. This is one case where your way may not be the best way for another couple. That's all I'm saying. . .


219 posted on 03/22/2007 2:25:17 PM PDT by rhetorica
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To: reluctantwarrior

BY your definition, what the Edwards are going may be the form of acceptance you are talking about. Life goes on. . .


220 posted on 03/22/2007 2:26:20 PM PDT by rhetorica
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