Prayers for Elizabeth Edwards
If you want to send a note to Elizabeth Edwards, the campaign has set up a page for people to write to her. I know she’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.
My guess is that John would have suspended his campaign (as was inaccurately reported this morning), but that Elizabeth told him no way. I hope she stays in good health for as long as possible. That family has certainly had its share of heartbreak.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 am
There’s a nice Saint Francis story: he was working in his garden, and someone asked him, what would you do if the world were going to end in an hour. He said, come back in an hour. And when the person came back, he was still working in his garden. We will all die – and John and Elizabeth Edwards have enough money that they need not do anything they don’t want to do. So it’s kind of hard to see why they would stop doing something they want to do because her death is known to be closer.
When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer we thought a little bit about big changes, and decided against them: we like our daily life! Now that she seems to be cured (we’re only three years in, and they want to get to five before they let you get confident) we maybe appreciate our dailiness more. If a diagnosis would lead one to make big changes, maybe it’s worth thinking about making the changes even absent the diagnosis.
Edwards was not my choice for Dem nominee before: hasn’t run anything big before, doesn’t seem to know much about compromise, is getting backing from the trial lawyers and is one himself. But this doesn’t make me more or less happy about the possibility he might get the nomination.
March 28th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Mark Kleiman, who likes Edwards a lot, put up the following at his blog:
“This is going to be an uncomfortable post, so let me start with some disclaimers:
1. I don’t think pundits have any business lecturing politicians about how to lead their private lives.
2. I don’t think anybody has any business lecturing anyone else on how to deal with a fatal disease.
3. I think Elizabeth and John Edwards are both displaying admirable fortitude in the face of horrible fortune.
4. I admire (what I know about) John Edwards. I think he’d be a strong candidate and a good President.
All of that said, Edwards’s decision to stay in the race for President strikes me as problematic.
The numbers on Stage IV breast cancer are brutal: it’s unlikely that Elizabeth Edwards would survive until the end of her husband’s first term. As the husband of a woman dying a painful death (the cancer has spread to bone, and bone pain can be horrible), as a grieving widower, and as a single parent of two young adolescents, he couldn’t give his job his undivided attention: unless he had a heart of stone, which he obviously doesn’t.
Whether running for President, or becoming President, would be good for John Edwards or his family is their business, and I don’t think anyone else should second-guess what is clearly a family choice. But whether he could do the job is our business. I think there’s room for doubt.”
March 31st, 2007 at 10:12 am
I don’t mean to sound callous but I think that even in an intense state of grieving and adjusting to life as a widower, John Edwards could do a helluva better job than W, who is (theoretically) operating at full capacity.
In fact, I wonder if following through on a dream they both shared would help him as he grieves. You know, the old “I’m doing this in memory of so-and-so” theory of motivation and success.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Elizabeth,
You are in my prayers. I lit a candle for you at the Nativity scene (at EWTN in Hanceville, AL).
I read that you are feeling fine. That’s great! I also read your book.
Julie
February 28th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Mrs. Edwards,
I am currently reading your book and find it so hard to put down at times. I just wanted to let you and your family know that you are all in my prayers! You have shown great strength and I hope you continue to embrace that strength! I try to live by “If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it.” Please believe that!
Again you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers!
Kristin
March 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Elizabeth,
I hope you forgive the informality in addressing you as Elizabeth but after reading your book and following your husbands campaign I feel as if you are a friend. You touched me deeply with your book. I feel as if you shared your soul with us in order to bring comfort to as many people as possible who have had common experiences. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family as you go through the fight you are currently in. Your grace and determination are a shining example to all. I only hope that I can be the kind of woman and parent you are. God bless you and your family. Continue to “fight the good fight”.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:30 am
My heart was saddened by the death of Elizabeth Edwards. I have never seen anyone who had so much adversity show the strength and courage she has.
My heart also goes out to her family and friends.
She leaves behind her sense of family, country generosity and dedication.
May her soul rest in peace.
Heaven has gained another angel.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:36 am
I had forgotten that I wrote this post when her cancer recurred. Thanks for the reminder. She was a class act through tough times.
December 13th, 2010 at 2:41 am
Such a amazing woman, inside and out. Her smile, and twinkle in her eyes offered millions hope, not only in her battle through cancer, but her strong persona in carrying on following a dying of her child.. The countless sorrows she encountered in her existence, and her strength in getting through them, made her just about the most respected women of our time, and one of the very beloved…I heard it mentioned that she once said. “I don’t fear death because I will be with Wade again”…She is together with him right now.. May she rest in serenity.