Elizabeth Edwards has died. WRAL of Raleigh-Durham reports that just a day after announcing that she would not undergo further treatment for cancer, the beloved political wife passed away at her Chapel Hill home. She was 61.
Edwards was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, when her husband John Edwards was campaigning for the presidency. Many admired her strength and poise as she kept her diagnosis a secret until the campaign was over. After surgery and months of treatment, Edwards’ cancer went into remission but then resurfaced in 2007. Once the disease had spread to her bones, a cure was impossible.
Edwards earned a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and first worked for the state Attorney General’s Office before becoming a bankruptcy attorney. She married John in 1977 and the couple had four children: Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack. Wade was killed in a car wreck when he was just 16. Edwards wrote about the tragedy in her 2006 memoir, Saving Graces. To make a donation to the Wade Edwards Learning Lab, click here.
Edwards and her husband separated in 2009 after reports of John’s affair with Rielle Hunter, which resulted in a daughter, Hunter. At the end of her life, Edwards devoted her time to advocating for health care reform.
“The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered,” Edwards wrote on Facebook earlier this week. “We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that, I am grateful.”
