Optimistic and Open Elizabeth Edwards Shows 'New Face' of Cancer As Husband Seeks White House

[Omaha Steve]

http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8O26B102&_action=validatearticle

Optimistic and Open Elizabeth Edwards Shows 'New Face' of Cancer As Husband Seeks White House

03-23-2007 6:39 PM
By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

NEW YORK (Associated Press) -- Just two decades ago, a breast cancer diagnosis was something a patient likely wouldn't share beyond close family and friends. Even the word "cancer" was barely spoken out loud. And no wonder: It raised immediate thoughts of a death sentence.

So when Elizabeth Edwards greeted the waiting media with a smile, a frank account of her worsening illness and a declaration that her life would go on exactly as before, it was an important reminder to many in the cancer community of how far things had come _ and how people like Edwards are representing a new face of the disease.

It wasn't just the striking openness displayed by Edwards and her husband, former Sen. John Edwards. It was the message that a patient can approach cancer, even the serious metastatic disease that Edwards now has, as a manageable condition similar to diabetes. As something that, while grave, can be lived with _ even in the grueling contest for the White House, and perhaps even as first lady.

"I expect to do next week all the things I did last week," Elizabeth Edwards said, "and the week after that and next year at the same time, all the same things I did last week ... I don't expect my life to be significantly different."


Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards, speaks about her recurrence of cancer during a news conference in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, March 22, 2007. Edwards will continue his campaign for the presidency. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

And her husband, acknowledging the cancer would never be cured, quoted their doctor as using the analogy of diabetes: "The disease never goes away. But you treat it ... you take your medicine. And that's exactly what we intend to do."

To Dr. Richard Wender, president of the American Cancer Society, looking at advanced cancer this way is relatively new.

FULL story at link.

[sandrakae]

1. I really thought he would quit the campaign.

This hole thing worries me. I am not sure how bone cancer can be treated with just taking medicine. They did not say anything about Chemo or radiation. I do not like John Edwards and do not plan on voting for him, however I feel just awful for them. This just doesn't sound good and their children are so young. It just surprises me that with her cancer being in stage 4 that he is going into a grueling campaign.

[kestrel91316]

2. She doesn't have bone cancer. She has breast cancer

which has spread to the bone.

Whole different animal.

[sandrakae]

4. She has bone cancer. It spread to her ribs.

[kestrel91316]

6. That's not "bone cancer". Bone cancer is OSTEOSARCOMA and

she has not ever been diagnosed with that.

She has metastatic breast cancer spread to the bone.

I is a docter. I du no some stuf.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Should they just sit at home and wait for her to die?

The campaign is something that obviously means a great deal to HER. It gives her something to live for. Many people with serious illnesses seem to do better and live longer if they keep busy doing something meaningful. As far as I'm concerned -- if it's something she wants, they should keep campaigning. Edwards isn't my first choice as a candidate, either, but they way he has handled this has impressed me very much.

[brer cat]

5. kestrel makes a point that many of us don't understand....

it is STILL breast cancer. Also, understand that chemo and/or radiation are part of the "medicine" they are talking about. No one is suggesting that she take a couple of aspirin.

I think a part of the "new" face of cancer that the op is addressing, is that first of all, cancer is no longer certain death within a very short span, which it almost always was in the not too distant past. Many new drugs are available that offer hope for a longer life. Second, people are more likely to go public AND try to live their lives as close to normal as possible.

I don't know the Edwards, and I haven't personally had cancer, although many family members have. I do know that it is vital to many who do to maintain a positive attitude, going on with the life they choose rather than circle the wagons and live solely with the elephant in the room.

Whatever their thought processes were, I admire both of them and wish them well. I pray that they will have years together to enjoy the life they chose to live.

[kestrel91316]

7. People seem to think that one type of cancer magically morphs

into another type as it spreads. ARRRGGGGHHHHH.

I need a drink.

And they think she should just give up and resign herself to death. Way beyond annoying.

[brer cat]

8. Have one on me!

:beer:

Thanks for all you do, Dr. Of all the physicians I have come in contact with during my life, the absolute top one is a veterinarian.

[kestrel91316]

10. In my career I have had more than one physician, in the privacy of

the exam room, lean over and quietly confess to me that he REALLY wanted to become a vet, but couldn't get into vet school. I don't know any vets who settled for it because they couldn't get into medical school. It's incomprehensible. Vet school is REALLY competitive. Some people apply for years and never get in, even with 4.0 GPAs in undergrad.

[brer cat]

11. You are right on.

When my daughter was young she adored our vet, the greatest physician I have ever known! When she told him that she really, really wanted to be a vet, he cautioned me not to encourage her..it was THE toughest school to get into. He was right. She will graduate this May with a 3.98 in a very hard accounting program, but she would not have made into a vet program.

To the OP: I didn't mean to hijack this tread...sometimes it just happens.

Please have one on me.

:toast: I did recommend the original thread.

[Lisa]

12. the vet I used to work for would tease physicians who had human patients

.... that they only had to treat ONE type of animal! She was in exotics, so she saw everything from fish to snakes and turtles, and birds ... as well as farm animals like pigs and cows, and pet mammals like dogs, cats, rabbits, and hamsters. Her favorite show on TV was the "Star Trek" series, because there were times when she felt like "Bones", with dozens of different kinds of creatures in "sick bay".

[edwardsfeingold08]

9. with all due respect...

This is a nice way of wording the Ann Coulter/right wing talking point.

I don't know why you think you know better than Elizabeth what is best for her and her family. You don't even seem to know what type of cancer she has. I personally find it inspiring when someone with a major illness chooses to live and fight instead of shutting the curtains and dying in private.

[GoldenOldie]

14. Those who do best are those that have goals or missions to complete

As a cancer survivor along with a spouse who is a cancer survivor and who also has lost 4-members of my family to various cancers. I have been an active member of a cancer support group for the past 20-years, I have observed those that have chosen to live their lives to the fullest through whatever their passions and goals were, survived longer and lived a richer life. I also recognize that those that chose this path, had families and friends that gave them their total support to walk whatever path had been chosen. These are the ones that fared the best. A few became long-time cancer survivors, many lived long past their physicians time-line. All of them were grateful they had the time to complete their calling and to give confirmation for their existence.

Elizabeth and John are giving their children so much more than the simple education of manners, religion, faith, love, patriotism, charity, etc., they are giving them living examples of what it is to be a caring member of a family and the human race. These are things that will help them grow and achieve much more than any monetary inheiritance.

[sandrakae]

15. You have no right camparing me to Ann Coulter.

Sorry for have a DAMN opinion. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lisa]

13. in Canada, Terry Fox gave us a great gift ...

Not just the millions of dollars for cancer research and education, raised by his "Marathon of Hope" in the early 1980s, or the attention he brought which spawned a wave of interest in "sport" prothetic limbs (just because you're an amputee doesn't mean you're confined to a wheelchair, which sadly enough was a widespread public attitude which even active teenagers who'd lost a leg or arm would come up against).

Hundreds and thousands of people began to call themselves cancer survivors. It wasn't something to be whispered about any longer, as if the person were already dead. The openness also helped contribute to early detection, and prevention. I know dozens of people who have successfully fought cancer ... family members, co-workers, even the woman who leads BC's opposition party in the Legislature.

Here's to Elizabeth! An election campaign, in its own way, is as challenging as running thousands of miles on a prosthetic leg, like Terry did.

[ninkasi]

16. I have nothing but admiration for Elizabeth Edwards

and her husband. She is facing her illness in the way that she finds most natural, and uplifting. John Edwards is a man I also admire, and I have no doubt that should his wife ask him to back out of running for president, he would do it. My own impression is that this couple is one who have shared the heartbreak of losing a child, and of coming through that grief stronger, and more bonded to each other than ever.

Since I think that Elizabeth has complete faith in her husband, the knowledge that he will pursue his candidacy for president in spite of her illness, gives her even more incentive to fight the battle with her terrible disease. She is fighting to control her cancer, and to lead as normal a life as possible.

A strong, vibrant, compassionate woman like Elizabeth Edwards is more than likely energized by helping her husband achieve a victory that they both truly believe would be in the best interest of the country they both love. She is not the kind of woman who, on hearing this discouraging news, retreats from life, and indulges in self-pity. God knows, nobody would fault her for that.

What finer endorsement of her faith in the goals her husband would pursue should he become president, than that rather than feeling neglected because of their decision for him to go on, she encourages it, knowing that the man she has been married to for almost 30 years is the kind of man whose ethics and desire to make America a better validates her faith in him.

There has been absolutely nothing in any of the interviews, or statements that the Edwards' have made that indicate in the slightest that they are trying to arouse sympathy, in a cynical way to win votes. They have been honest and upfront, because rumors would have already started about her health, and the right-wing shrills would have found a way to put a negative spin on that, by asking "What's John Edwards hiding about the REAL state of his wife's health?"

When facing the Republic slime machine, we should remember that no tactic, however low, is too low for them to employ. No lie is too blatant for them to utter.