Fearing the worst, my heart goes out to them. You just know he will do the right thing and stand by Elizabeth no matter what.
Amen. . .here are the hopes and prayers. . ..
Fearing the worst, my heart goes out to them, indeed.
fuck. On many levels.
Elizabeth Edwards is the first political spouse I can think of in my lifetime who seriously made me want to vote for her husband.
I'm afraid that the word is that John Edwards will bow out of the race tomorrow. I don't know what that portends about Elizabeth's health.
....
Fucking cancer.
I really don't like a choice between Clinton and Obama. Nothing (too much) against either, but I really liked Edwards. Even after la affaire Marcotte, Goddess help me.
And him dropping out 'cause his wife's breast cancer recurred makes me want to vote for him more.
that just breaks my heart. i hope she'll be okay.
Sigh.
What an awful thing to happen to very, very good people. And yes, like others, my sources tell me that it's probably bad news on the cancer front and that he'll either take an extended absence from the campaign trail or just withdraw completely.
Sigh.
This is really awful. I really like Edwards, and really hoped him could make it. And I feel especially awful that his wife maybe has cancer and my first concerns are with the political consequences.
Oh, man. I wasn't committed to voting for Edwards, but he really seems like good people, and so does Elizabeth Edwards. How awful that this should be happening to her again (and with little kids yet) and what a rotten reason to lose a good candidate.
I'm supposed to have dinner tonight with a good friend of mine who is recovering from a particularly nasty form of breast cancer and is really emotionally and physically exhausted from doing chemo for almost two years. I know she really liked Elizabeth Edwards so hearing this makes me feel really bad for my friend, too. She had to reschedule our plans to tonight from last night because she was just feeling too "chemo depressed" so it saddens me that hearing this might bring her down further.
I'm trying to hold off with the doom and gloom at least until the press conference, but of course this is not looking good.
I've clicked on this thread several times, but I have simply been unable to properly express my feelings. Not about Elizabeth Edwards per se, but about all of the people that I have known who have had to fight cancer. Some successfully. Some not so much.
I often feel frustrated about what to say. Cancer totally sucks.
I really like Elizabeth Edwards a lot. She's smart and down to earth and doesn't take herself too seriously. Hell, I'd almost rather have her be president than John.
I kind of wonder whether it wouldn't be better for him to be able to stand by her and run at the same time. I mean, I know that it's pretty much impossible, given what it takes to run a presidential campaign. It just seems to me that that process is so messed up, because it means that so many of the really decent people who have qualities we sorely need are kept from pursuing the office.
What everyone else has already said. Edwards demonstrated in 2004 that he was a significantly more thoughtful and decent politician than John Kerry; if he goes ahead and pulls out of the 2008 race due to wanting to support his wife at this time, he will have demonstrated more plain human thoughtfulness and decency than several of his potential competitors for the presidency.
Whatever happens, God bless them both.
Edwards to Suspend Campaign per Politico blog.
Sigh.
Christ, but the comments on that post are ugly.
27: You're not kidding. Jesus, what kind of cretins read that blog?
And the bad ones I saw earlier have been deleted. Jesus, some people are so awful.
Not really -- it was one jerk and a whole lot of people condemning the jerk. What a rotten lousy thing to happen.
I saw more than one jerk before I had to stop reading.
Some people are ugly from the inside out.
On looking back, I suppose there were several jerks. But there was a lot of condemnation.
I've had a big spike in traffic coming from Google Image to this post. Following it back, I noticed that this is one of the first hits if you search for her name. That sort of trenchant political commentary has landed him a show on "liberal" CNN, of course.
What a beautiful picture of her. And I suppose his moustache sounded like a good idea at the time.
Yeah, here's another one. What lookers.
John Davidson and Sally Field as serious people.
John Davidson and Sally Field
Wow, you're right.
Unfortunately if you somehow assume that she goes by "Beth", you get a monumentally horrific aesthetic trainwreck as the result of your search.
By the way, the press conference will be streamed live here
God, they look remarkably composed considering what they're announcing.
Damn, bone cancer is shit. Hope it doesn't progress too fast.
Damn, bone cancer is shit. Hope it doesn't progress too fast.
Damn, bone cancer is shit. Hope it doesn't progress too fast.
shit. cancer in her bones. incurable but they are saying it can be managed. elizabeth is a hell of a brave woman.
campaign goes on.
"You can go cower in the corner and hide or you can be strong and go out and stand up for what you believe in."
He's staying in. Although the cancer has gone to the bone, apparently it's been caught very early and they think it's treatable.
Bone cancer? Goddam. Those poor kids.
How terrifying this must be for them.
Does anyone have enough information to know whether their optimism is warranted?
I'm writing my oncologist friend right now; maybe hear back by tomorrow.
Fuck, that's terrifying. Can the campaign really go on? From what I understand, it's not a lifestyle that allows for much sleeping, eating, or knowing what city you're in.
Elizabeth Edwards is the real deal. At the very moment she's announcing she has incurable cancer, she's continuing to advocate.
Paraphrasing: This is about more than John. If it was just about him, it would be easy for us to leave this campaign behind. But this campaign is too important for America.
Wow.
Seriously. These two belong in the White House.
She found out due to an unrelated broken rib. Someone asked how she broke it, and John replies, "Actually, I was beating her."
Regardless of how things turn out for her, healthwise, I don't see how this doesn't wreck the campaign. I think that staying in is the wrong call, even though I sympathize with and admire the attitude driving it.
One hopes she'll be physically detached from the campaign, at least?
60: Yeah, I think that was sort of unfortunate, but he'll get some slack from nearly everyone because of what he and Elizabeth have been through over the past few days.
60: ha, I missed that. Please do not tell me anything else that makes me like Edwards even more.
Weirdly, Wonkette has moving coverage.
It's comforting to watch them together, their easy rapport.
she expects low-dose chemo and to be with the campaign unless there are times she gets tired
She's much more intense and charismatic than he is.
I hope little Annie Coulter becomes even more of a pariah now, but somehow I doubt it.
26: Damn, am I glad they were wrong about that.
I think she'd make a better President than he. They sound so optimistic, but.... christ.
how amazing is it to put her doctor out to explain the disease and treatment?
They've not showing the doctor on the feed I was watching...
abc has a feed -- available via yahoo news
According to the internet, it's not all that uncommon for breast cancer to 'recur' in the bones or the lungs. (I guess this is different from just having spread from the breast.)
Gah.
There are also "abnormalities" in her lung? Jesus. I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound good.
apparently it's been caught very early and they think it's treatable
IANAD, of course. But my experience is that bone cancer is a killer. A friend's father only lived about 6 months following his diagnosis. That was nearly 20 years ago, though, so maybe the treatments have improved since.
I'm incredibly sad for the Edwardses. But their courage in the face of everything they've lost over the years is amazing. I wish them the best.
the lung thing may not be cancer at all. too small to tell.
i thought that was a fabulous set of explanations by the doctor, very reassuring under the circumstances. although of course, they really cannot predict how it will go over time, it sounds like there is a very decent chance she will continue to be healthy other than a small amount of cancer that looks controllable right now.
stage 4 anything cancer sounds scary as hell and is very bad news for a lot of cancers. but this doctor made a lot of sense. elizabeth does look very healthy.
Yeah, I admire her all the way up and down the block, but can not taking a break really be a good health decision? Maybe it's the only one that's psychologically workable; she seems to care more about this campaign than anyone, and losing the chance to make this happen might not be good for her ability to fight the cancer either.
it isn't bone cancer, it is still the breast cancer. some bone cancers are just very ugly, but that isn't what she has.
I was a little surprised by J. Edwards's language about cancer, "we're not going to take this lying down" and so on. No one would think that about their family, if they decided that they need to suspend or end the campaign—had they decided that today or if they did in the future. It just doesn't sound like this news is very good and while the aggressive attitude is understandable, maybe even necessary, I want to know that, first things first, they're taking care of themselves and their family.
John Edwards must be one hell of a hugger. I want him as president, if possible. Maybe one day we'll all feel those arms cracking our ribs apart.
As she said, she's totally asymptomatic and wouldn't have even known there was anything amiss if she hadn't had a cracked rib on the other side.
I was a little surprised by J. Edwards's language about cancer
It makes sense if they're really playing it by ear. It sounds as if the medical situation might be that she's going to be grossly fine for a couple of years; no guarantees, but could be. Under those circumstances, not dropping out is a reasonable decision (given that he can always drop out later if necessary) but one he has to be very aggressively gung ho about for anyone to believe him that he's not just dropping out slowly.
I think she'd make a better President than he.
Yeah, well.
I know Laura Bush does stuff, but I have a hard time remembering what that is, other than photo ops and saying she supports her husband. Is it possible that she's the first First Lady in, like, a really long time who didn't have a unified personal project? In thinking about the Edwardses, I can't imagine them not having some huge thing for her to do.
But maybe I'm blocking out whatever thing Laura does because I thought it was irrelevant or politically motivated.
Oh wait, is it phonics? You just don't hear the administration touting big numbers of increased literacy on her behalf.
Libraries, doesn't she do something about? I have a vague memory that her history of being a librarian hooks into some current project.
I think Laura, the former librarian, has some kind of reading/literacy project.
I was just thinking how normal and natural "team" is as a way of thinking about marriages for professional people our age. And the Bushes are throwbacks in that respect.
I think Laura Bush was trying to sponsor books and poetry and libraries, but the policies of George Bush made a lot of the people involved with those causes snub her efforts. Sort of sad, I guess, but appropriate.
And the all important wearing of the pastel suits and smiling reverently project.
I'm not sure if Stage IV is the same as recurring (the Internet seems to group them differently), but it isn't bone cancer unless it's a new cancer. If it's breast-cancer-that's-spread, it's still breast cancer.
Perhaps the reason why George Dubya studied business instead of law is because he would have to pass the bar, and Laura would divorce him for getting even near a bar. Explains a lot, doesn't it?
I guess maybe it's hard to remember that Laura has been vaguely trying to get kids to walk into libraries when her husband has been slashing funding for education and public projects for the past six years without cease. Like, Nancy Reagan's anti-drug stuff was kinda silly, but you knew what she was doing and Ron had her back. George doesn't seem to give a shit about whatever little project his bride invests her time in, as long as she says he's a great guy every now and again.
it could be absolutely true that she will be fine for years and years. she is healthy. there won't be surgery and they do not expect debilitating treatments like major chemo infusions. she's got great medical care. if they can keep it from spreading any more, no reason why she shouldn't live a full life and die eventually from something else.
just for purposes of comparison, cheney entered office 6 years ago having had a bunch of bypass operations and an implanted pacemaker. ms. edwards seems a lot healthier to me.
the medical situation might be
It's that "might" that's important. Right now I strongly suspect it's all guesswork and the required MDR of optimism. If they just found it they don't know how fast it's moving nor do they know how treatments might affect it.
no reason why she shouldn't live a full life and die eventually from something else
I'm not a doctor, and I hope you're right, but it generally doesn't work like that. They'll give her drugs which will control and maybe shrink the cancer, but usually those drugs lose their effectiveness over time, and she'll have to go on a new regimen which isn't guaranteed to work as well, or at all, and if those work, then they lose their effectiveness, etc. It's certainly possible that she could have several productive years left, but (again, I'm not a doctor) I don't think it's likely that she'll live into old age. But I should shut up and wait for the oncologist to write me back.
I have to wonder how realistic they are being. After all, they can't really know what will be the state of her health six months or a year from now. And wouldn't it be much worse to have to drop out later?
Okay, sorry for the pessimism.
But I understand their decision: right now she's not dying, just like the rest of us, and you can't just wait around to die, you go on living your life, just like the rest of us.
Well, the NYT article says 26% 5-year survival rate. Which isn't really great.
Very few patients with Stage IV breast cancer survive longer than five years. But 103 pegs it.
Hmm, 26% is higher than the number I got from my googling, but further searching is showing a pretty wide range, with 10-20% being the common boundaries. More than "very few," but not great.
Median survival is about two years.
Right now I strongly suspect it's all guesswork and the required MDR of optimism.
This, definitely. EE mentioned at some point during the conference that the results from the biopsy weren't back yet, or something to that effect.
103 is right. So, at least in my experience, is 101. It doesn't mean that she's dying. But cancer at this stage isn't really curable, is it? It's manageable, and certainly you can do a lot of living. But it's nowhere near the point of an ordinary chronic illness.
Worth pointing out that Lance Armstrong was as good dead...
Yeah. I can easily imagine them realizing what the prognosis is and thinking that, precisely *because* of that, now is the time to keep pushing the campaign. Especially since health care is one of his issues. It seems like if he were going to win the presidency, both he and she would want her to be alive to see it happen.
Plus, practically speaking, if they're really committed to the issues he's pushing, this election is probably about the best time in the last several years (and depending on what happens in this election, possibly for a while yet to come) to really try to move those things forward.
I thoroughly enjoyed "It's Not About the Bike."
Lance is amazing.
Also, chemo drugs seriously weaken the heart. My friend who is in chemo has had to stop them a couple of times because her doctors were afraid her heart muscles couldn't take it any more and it would just stop beating. So, even if the cancer doesn't kill you, being on chemo long term can be fatal for other reasons.
But I understand their decision: right now she's not dying, just like the rest of us, and you can't just wait around to die, you go on living your life, just like the rest of us.
I agree, at least insofar as it pertains to her/their private life. But this is about his/their public life. There's a lot at stake here, and they are going to be asking donors and voters to make huge investments of time, money, energy and etc., and there's now a pretty serious question, I think, about whether Edwards can make return on that investment.
I'm not stating categorically that he should drop out now, but I do have to wonder.
Yeah, chemotherapy is teh suck.
Semi-relevant link, sent to me by (surprisingly) an SG reader.
there's now a pretty serious question, I think, about whether Edwards can make return on that investment
Which potentials donors know, and can take into account.
109: One of my biostatistics profs told me, from his hospital bed, that he didn't care about the probabilities any more. From his viewpoint, right there, he was either going to live or die. (He got another two years, a divorce, a young girlfriend, and some sailing on the gulf)
I expect, within a few days, to start to see the usual suspects on the right criticizing Edwards for being over-ambitious, or unfeeling, or something, in continuing his campaign despite his wife's illness.
within a few days
So young, so full of hope...
Also, while it's been a difficult run for my friend with breast cancer, she's very lucky -- the rare type she had was considered 100% fatal within months until literally weeks before she was diagnosed. The new drug she's on hadn't been approved yet (it is now) and she got it as part of a compassionate use trial. Had she been diagnosed even six months earlier, she would have surely died. Her cancer's gone and, while she's still in chemo, it's because of the new preventative chemo guidelines they have to prevent certain types of cancers from recurring. So there are advances made every day.
123 to 109 and to compensate for the depressing tone in 114.
121: It's already started, mrh.
122, 125: Sure, of course, but I personally don't expect to see it for at least a couple of days. I have my hands over my eyes, you see.
Gosh, you wouldn't expect the political movement that brought us this administration and its war, and its lackeys, to stoop so low, would you?
Betcha in addition to the "cynical, unfeeling" accusations we'll also get claims that Edwards is capitalizing on his wife's cancer.
128: They're all over the place on the "Politico" comments -- about 10% of the total comments. They've deleted the worst, but the ones which remain are pretty bad.
No one has actually come out in support of the cancer yet, though.
No one has actually come out in support of the cancer yet, though.
They must have deleted the one in which the commenter said this proved that God hates liberals.
Jesus, this makes me want to drop everything and move to NC and volunteer for the campaign. Can't. My mom is about Elizabeth's age and is pretty ill. It's exhausting. I can't imagine the energy, the sheer organization and competence, required to make that kind of commitment in the face of illness.
In the back of my head with them is always the fact that their eldest son is dead, and how amazingly they have dealt with what what must be the most awful griefs in the world. You gotta wonder how much they're willing to fight because they still have chances he never got. It's quite astonishing, really. And yeah, I think this really clarified for me that I really, really like Edwards. It's kind of like how how after the 2000 election all the meh, Gore, people were suddenly impassioned about the results. I like Obama too, but I think Edwards really has the core strength.
121, 128: This is one of the reasons I fear that this is the end of the campaign (for president, at least). It's not just that the usual suspects will be able to sling shit like this, but that the infantile press is sure to pick up the shit and put its dirty little fingers in its mouth. I see the press becoming fixated on the personal drama to the exclusion of the campaign's vision and policies, and the right wing monkeys being able to steer coverage of the personal drama to their advantage. It really kills me that this development makes me want Edwards as pres that much more, while simultaneously leading me to (almost) give up hope of that it'll happen.
On a lighter note, damn, those people look good. I didn't realize until today that EE was 57. Those kids've got some good genes.
Well, the older kids. The younger kids have got to be egg-donation, right? She was late forties when she had them.
Has anyone claimed that he *caused* the cancer in order to boost his campaign?
Those kids've got some good genes.
Except for that nasty early cancer breast thing.
134: Nah; she could've gone ivf or just had really late menopause.
The younger kids have got to be egg-donation, right?
She was late forties when she had them.
50 when the second was born.
They're all over the place on the "Politico" comments -- about 10% of the total comments.
FYI, I just looked at the most recent comments on the most recent thread and it seems a LOT higher than 10%.
I believe that a Drudge link was responsible.
What I saw was worse than I would have imagined, and that's saying a lot coming from me. And what I didn't see ("God Hates liberals" "Elizabeth is a beard") was worse. (The deleted comments still have responses to them up.)
134, 137: Oh, right. You know, I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to their personal story at all until now. Didn't know her age, didn't know how many kids they had or their ages, etc.
136: Well. (*cough*) Yes. Of course. I was just speaking of their attractiveness in the course of aging, because, as a man, that's all I really care about.
Odds are the younger kids are genetically his, if not hers, in which case they've got half the looks (and with all the money in the world, probably the donor looked reasonably like her -- it seems like a reasonable thing to do) and none of those pesky breast cancer genes.
Wow. The politico site is an education.
I'd not really been hating on the Republican god-fearers / -lovers, but that's really fucking ugly.
I gotta walk away.
140: I thought it was the gayness that made you care so much about appearances.
I never would have guessed she was 57. Either lucky genes (barring the cancer) or a talented make-up artist.
Jane Hamsher (who knows a thing or two about surviving cancer herself) blogs about it here, and Elizabeth Edwards drops in a comment.
Wow.
Here's one of the halfway decent blogs at WaPo talking about the "I was beating her" comment.
146: I just left a comment there, despite misgivings. . .couldn't stand it otherwise.
143: It's the gay that makes me shallow enough to mention it.
Girlfriend.
And as long as I'm flaming, I'd kind of like to sleep with '70's John, if anybody could arrange that.
A really outstanding article from the front page of the SF Chronicle on the Elizabeth Edwards cancer news.
