Elizabeth Edwards has breast cancer

[Styles 0]

Must have been tough to ignore this before the concession. I wish nothing but a speedy and successful recovery.

 

Edwards' Wife Has Breast Cancer

 

Thursday, November 04, 2004

 

WASHINGTON  — Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day her husband and Sen. John Kerry conceded the presidential race.

 

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 (search) 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 (search). 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 (search) 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 (search).

 

Treatment usually begins with surgery, according to the National Cancer Institute (search). 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.

[Special K 0]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

[Styles 0]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

[Guest Cerebus]

I question the timing of this Breast Cancer.

 

In all seriously God help her and the Edwards family. I hope she recovers quickly and as painlessly as possible.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Bad week for the Edwards family.

[Guest BDC]

Boooooooooo.

 

Seriously uncool. God bless 'em.

[teke184 0]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

 

 

Arafat, however, is fair game.

[cbacon 0]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

This coming from someone who joked about uriniating and dismembering John Kerry's body.

[Styles 0]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

 

 

Arafat, however, is fair game.

Teke, I started off my post wishing nothing but the best. I couldn't resist the jab at Johnny Malpractice since it was wide open. I certainly do not make light of Mrs. Edwards' cancer. I see and respect your point though.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

Wow. I was going to make a post like that but Slapnuts beat me to it. Good thing he did...

[Special K 0]

You weren't talking about me, were you Teke? Because I was being serious. She's relatively young and will have great doctors. She should beat it.

[teke184 0]

Special K, it was Slapnuts that I was referring to.

 

 

It wasn't that the comment in particular was in horrible taste as much as it was a cheap shot at Edwards over the situation.

 

 

As for my comment about Kerry, Kerry was fair game at the time because he'd lost but wouldn't accept reality.

 

The current news reports that he and his advisors basically threatened all the news outlets not call Ohio as Fox had done certainly hasn't made me respect him anymore.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

As for my comment about Kerry, Kerry was fair game at the time because he'd lost but wouldn't accept reality.

 

Oh, come on. Your comment was just as tasteless. Own up to it.

[teke184 0]

True, it was tasteless.

 

 

Still doesn't change the fact that the man knew he'd lost, blocked all the networks but NBC and Fox from reporting it, and didn't admit it for another 12 hours.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

What was your "tasteless comment"? I'm curious...

[Guest Banders Kennany]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

 

 

Arafat, however, is fair game.

Even though everyone here seems to agree Arafat is a troll, a good many people believe he is a good man. This is not like we're talking about Hitler, in the respect that everyone would unanimously agree what a monster he was. With Arafat there is room for discussion on both sides.

 

What he made was playful jab at John Edwards. While the remark may have been tinged ever lightly with a poison malice, he even followed it up with a smiley. I do not consider this remark to have been said with any mean spirit. You're really being ridiculous in this situation.

 

This coming from someone who joked about uriniating and dismembering John Kerry's body.

After I saw this, I was even more aghast at how you took your hardline stance on Elizabeth Edwards' pcikle. It seems you're Republican who tried to show some decency and sense in not saying Edwards deserved it for being a commie or some whatever so nonsense, but in doing so you went and held people to higher standard than you held yourself. If you're going to be trusted with mod powers, this is pretty unacceptable IMO.

 

It wasn't that the comment in particular was in horrible taste as much as it was a cheap shot at Edwards over the situation.

To call that a "Cheap shot" would be very loose usage of the term.

 

As for my comment about Kerry, Kerry was fair game at the time because he'd lost but wouldn't accept reality. 

I hate Kerry too, but in the end he did concede the election and not put the country through weeks of legal troubles. And even if he did, he doesn't deserved to be urinated on and dismembered. Give me a break here.

 

The current news reports that he and his advisors basically threatened all the news outlets not call Ohio as Fox had done certainly hasn't made me respect him anymore.

Wow what a solid rationale. Give it a rest and own up to your miostake Tootsie.

[Guest Banders Kennany]

Weak. I'm sure she'll have the best medical care possible, though.

And if not, John will surely sue for malpractice

OK, keep it tasteful. Just because I was banning unhinged liberal trolls doesn't mean you can make fun of Elizabeth Edwards' illness.

 

 

Arafat, however, is fair game.

Teke, I started off my post wishing nothing but the best. I couldn't resist the jab at Johnny Malpractice since it was wide open. I certainly do not make light of Mrs. Edwards' cancer. I see and respect your point though.

You shouldn't have to apologize at all. You made a little lighthearted joke with no malice and teke started in comparing you to zealots like St. Gabby and cpac.