WASHINGTON | Elizabeth Edwards family has announced she lost her long battle with cancer today, according to the New York Times.
Her death comes the day after Edwards, 61, herself announced on Facebook that she likely had only weeks to live.
Over the past six years, Edwards had seen her husband’s presidential ambitions thwarted, retreated from public life as their marriage disintegrated over his affair, then emerged to advocate for changes in the country’s health care system, all while grappling with the cancer ravaging her body.
On her Facebook page Monday, Edwards thanked the people who supported her through those trials.
“The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered,” Edwards wrote. “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.”
The Edwards family in a statement said Monday doctors had had told them that further treatment for her cancer would be unproductive.
A friend, who was among those who gathered with Edwards at her North Carolina home, said Edwards was briefly hospitalized last week and received treatment, but doctors told her she would not recover.