What a sad turn – Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has re-appaeared – in her bones. This is serious, but not an immediate, short term death sentence. One of my closest friends in Florida has spent the past 10+ years battling various forms of cancer, all of which began with a small lump in her breast (she had it removed with a lumpectomy, but said later, in retrospect, she should have chosen the mastectomy. Who knows if it would have changed the outcome.)
I will never forget the Halloween night – probably in ’98 or ’99, when I took Katie trick-or-treating, and Molly was at her daughter’s house (her daughter lived in the same neighborhood I did). I was a little surprised because when we appeared, both of the daughters (adults) whisked Katie back into the house and said she must show them her candy, right now. I sat on the front porch and my friend said, "The bone scans came back. My bones are black with cancer."
But then she said, "I’m going to fight this. There are going to be candles lit and prayers said, and I’m going to fight. I will see grandchildren."
And she has. Four so far.
She is diminished in various ways, she’s been unable to teach for several years, and the cancer has fought hand-to-hand with her the whole way, but she is living on her own still, doing her yoga, going to Daily Mass, tending to her garden – and her grandchildren.
I’m like Rod – I don’t know quite what to make of the decision to continue the campaign. Even though I have largely no use for Edwards’ politics, his dedication to his wife and family is untarnished – a point Al Mohler made in regard to Ann Coulter’s most recent bombastic idiocy. I can assume the dynamic – she probably very much wants him to go on. It may be just the kind of focus that is needed, or it may end up being something Edwards regrets very much as he looks back at time he could have spent with his wife instead of on the campaign trail.
You just never know what will happen – what the combination of good medicine, faith and the determination to see something through can do.
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