Listened to NPR in the car on the way home today when John Edwards announced that his campaign will go on despite the fact that his wife's cancer has returned. Elizabeth was there with him when he spoke suggesting that she goes along with his decision. She has a return of cancer and now it's incurable and it's in a rib bone. However, she said it is highly treatable and will be.
Faced with questions about how his wife's illness affected his political future, Edwards said he will pursue his 2008 bid for the presidency, but: "Any time, any place I need to be with Elizabeth I will be there — period." (CBS News)
They both sounded calm and serious and hopeful (or at least they said they were hopeful). They said they had delayed the announcement so that they could tell their family members before telling the public.
I couldn't help feeling, though, that the Edwards's are going to have to proceed day by day...who's to say how easy this is going to be on Elizabeth and the rest of the family and the former Senator himself? It remains to be seen. They will be in my thoughts.
theteach
2 comments:
I write this after watching the amazing political and personal Edwards story unfold during the news conference today from Chapel Hill. They both know the rigors of politics, and the numbing experience of running for the White House. No one would fault them for saying they were bowing out over the health issues of Elizabeth. But they both feel so intense about the issues of the day, in spite of the political world that confronts them, that they will keep fighting to make changes.
If they can stay sustained in the fight with all the personal problems that they face, I think that attitude paves the way for you and me, and the rest of us, to fight the battles where we can, hope and work for the best people and causes as we are able to discern them, and then just have faith that in the long run we have done some good.
Deke, it's really going to be hard for them.
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