Elizabeth Edwards-Death, Life And Cancer

Pulse

oi-Priya Devi

By Priya Devi

Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 11:23

Elizabeth Edwards breathed her last, succumbing to metastatic breast cancer on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, at home in Chapel Hill, surrounded by friends and family.

It was not more than a day that the family of Elizabeth Edwards, announced that that the doctors have advised to give up treatment.

Life

Elizabeth Edwards 61, besides being the wife of John Edwards, the former presidential candidate, had feathered her cap assuming versatility by being a best selling author, attorney and a health care advocate. She is the mother of Cate, Jack and Emma Claire.

Elizabeth Edwards began her career as a law clerk for a Federal Juudge and moved on to take up the role as an associate at the law firm of Harwell Barr Martin & Sloan in 1978. In 1981 she worked in the Office of the Attorney General, and at the law firm Merriman, Nicholls, and Crampton. She dropped her legal role that she played after the sudden demise of her son and gave up her maiden name.

The death of her son led to the emergence of 'Wade Edwards Foundation', aimed at aiding high school children. She then took up the role of an adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina School of Law and parallely worked as a substitute teacher in the Wake County Public Schools.

Cancer was but yet another battle that she had to combat while she had suffered the death of her son Wade Edwards, who was killed in a Jeep crash and the infidelity of her husband, who publicly confessed about fathering a child with another woman. This marked the end of her marital relationship, filing for a divorce, which required a compulsory separation for a year.

However, her illness or other adversities that she encountered did not deter her from the being a dynamic personality. In August 2009, she came up with a furniture store in Chapel Hill.

She authored, Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers, focusing on the death of her son and her illness. She launched her second book in May 2009, Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities, opening up with the odds that she encountered owing to her illness, the deaths of her father and son, her husband's infidelity and the overall state of health care in the US.

In April 2008, she became a fellow at the Center for American Progress, as an advocate for universal health care and vocal pro-reform figure on the political left .

Breast Cancer

Her's was an open, public battle with breast cancer, which was first diagnosed on November 3, 2004, leading her to become to an activist in women health and cancer patients. She also underwent oncology treatment.

On March 22, 2007, Elizabeth Edwards made a public announcement of the reappearance of her cancer She was then in the fourth stage of the ailment, metastatic, which also appeared as a spot in her rib and her lung.

On December 6th, her family announced about the fact that the doctors have advised to stop the treatment, which led to a clear cut anticipation by her admirers and the world at large that her end was drawing close. The cancer had also spread to her liver.

Death

On December 7th 2010, the curtain fell over the dramatic life of a public figure, admired by many for the exorbitant courage that she exuded in the face of life's adversities.