Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards (born Mary Elizabeth Anania on July 3, 1949, in Jacksonville, Florida) is an attorney. Her husband, John Edwards, is a former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election.

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Education and family

Edwards spent some of her childhood attending school in Japan, where her father, an Italian-American United States Navy pilot, was stationed. She attended Mary Washington College and then transferred to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receiving an undergraduate degree and completing three years of graduate work in English, as well as earning a J.D. at the same institution. She met John Edwards when they were both law students there. They married on July 30, 1977.

The Edwards are the parents of four children: Wade, Catharine, Emma Claire, and Jack. Wade was killed in April 1996 when he lost control of the Jeep he was driving from his Raleigh home to the family's beach house near Wilmington.^[1] Following Wade's death, Edwards and her husband chose to have children again: Emma Claire, born in 1998, and Jack, born in 2000. Edwards was pregnant with Emma Claire during her husband's 1998 Senate race. Emma Claire and Jack were born in Chapel Hill, where the family now resides.

Professional life

She began her career as a law clerk for a federal judge, then moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1978 to become an associate at the law firm of Harwell Barr Martin & Sloan. In 1981, she and her husband moved their family to Raleigh to work at the law firm Merriman, Nicholls, and Crampton. She used her maiden name professionally until 1996,^[2] when she retired from legal practice upon the death of her son and changed her name to Elizabeth Edwards. Much of her time since leaving legal practice has been devoted to the administration of the Wade Edwards Foundation.^[3] She has taught legal writing as an adjunct instructor at the law school of the University of North Carolina and worked as a substitute teacher in the Wake County Public Schools.

Political activities

During much of 2004, Edwards joined her husband and United States Democratic Presidential nominee Senator John Kerry on the nationwide campaign trail. She has taken a similar role in her husband's 2008 presidential bid, and is considered one of his closest advisers.

Edwards disagrees with her husband on the topic of gay marriage. She became a vocal advocate in 2007 when she stated: “I don’t know why someone else’s marriage has anything to do with me. I’m completely comfortable with gay marriage.” ^[4]

Breast cancer

On November 3, 2004, the day Kerry conceded defeat in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later revealed that she discovered a lump in her breast while on a campaign stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin a few weeks earlier, in the midst of the campaign. Edwards was treated and has remained an activist for women's health and cancer patients. In a November 2006 comment on the Daily Kos website, Edwards stated that on her last visit, her oncologist said that cancer was not one of the things going on in her life.^[5]

In September 2006, Edwards released a book, Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers,^[6] focusing on the death of her son and her battle with breast cancer.

At a March 22, 2007 press conference,^[7] John and Elizabeth Edwards announced that her cancer had returned, and that his campaign for the Presidency was continuing at full steam. They said that she is asymptomatic, and that she expects to continue actively campaigning while undergoing treatment.^[8] Her doctor, Dr. Lisa Carey of the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, described the diagnosis as stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer with a spot in her rib and possibly her lung. In a March 25 interview on 60 Minutes, Edwards said that there was also a spot in her hip found on her bone scan.^[9] The Edwardses and Dr. Carey stressed that the cancer is not curable, but is treatable.^[7][10] As of April 2, 2007 Edwards was informed that her cancer may be treatable with anti-estrogen drugs. "I consider that a good sign. It means there are more medications which I can expect to be responsive," she told the Associated Press during a campaign stop with her husband in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.^[11]

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