Velogal's Blog

Sunday, April 01, 2007

That ugly SOB, Cancer, grabs the headlines again. When will we see the headlines saying that cancer is conquered? We all have to join the team to defeat cancer. Now...

From PR Newswire:
In the April 9 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, April 2): "How I Live With Cancer." Senior Editor Jonathan Alter writes an essay about his fight against lymphoma, in remission today, three years after the diagnosis. Also, Alter talks to Elizabeth Edwards about what's ahead for her. Plus: a report from the front in Iraq; the women of Israel pose for Maxim; the God debate; how talking about finances can save a marriage and Boomers and their cars.

NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 04/01/2007

Elizabeth Edwards Says She's Not Praying for God to Save Her; 'God will
enlighten me when the time comes'; Her View is Now of a God who Promises
Salvation, not Protection
Alter Writes on His Own Battle with Lymphoma; the Candor of Edwards and
Tony Snow 'has helped stimulate a useful national conversation about how
people handle a cancer diagnosis'
Lance Armstrong: We Need to Widely Distribute Information About Cancer
Prevention and Detection

NEW YORK, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Elizabeth Edwards tells Newsweek that
she's not praying for God to save her from cancer. "I'm not. God will
enlighten me when the time comes. And if I've done the right thing, I will
be enlightened. And if I believe, I'll be saved. And that's all he promises
me." Edwards talks to Senior Editor Jonathan Alter in an interview in the
April 9 Newsweek cover package, "How I Live with Cancer," (on newsstands
Monday, April 2). Alter wrote the cover essay about his own battle with
lymphoma.

Alter asks Edwards about her keeping God out of the public discussion
of her recurrence of cancer. She says she has a different view of God after
her 16-year-old son Wade's death 11 years ago in a car accident. "I had to
think about a God who would not save my son," says Edwards, who describes
Wade as someone who would reach out to people who were misfits and outcasts
all the time. "You'd think that if God was going to protect somebody, he'd
protect that boy. But not only did he not protect him, the wind blew him
from the road. The hand of God blew him from the road. So I had to think,
'What kind of God do I have that doesn't intervene -- in fact, may even
participate -- in the death of this good boy?' I talk about it in [her book
'Saving Graces'], that I had to accept that my God was a God who promised
enlightenment and salvation. And that's all. Didn't promise us protection.
I've had to come to grips with a God that fits my own experience, which is,
my God could not be offering protection and not have protected my boy."
She also tells Alter of their plans for their two young children as
John Edwards's campaign begins. "I think we've pretty much settled on what
it is we're going to do. I think the children will finish out the school
year and then, in the fall, they'll travel with us. We will home-school
them. We'll employ a tutor to travel with us to help teach them. I hope it
will be an extraordinary experience for them."
In the cover essay by Alter, he writes that he found out about his
cancer three years ago, and, at that time, he was writing about the end of
John Edwards's presidential campaign. "Three years later, I'm in remission
and, strangely enough, thinking once more about the future of Edwards and
his family. Like the 10.5 million other cancer survivors in the United
States, I experienced a bit of extra stress last week. When Elizabeth
Edwards's breast cancer recurred in her bones and Tony Snow's colon cancer
recurred in his liver, the cold fear that many of us live with everyday
crept a little closer. The good news is that the candor of Edwards and Snow
(who is recuperating from surgery but has been open about his situation
from his perch as White House press secretary) has helped stimulate a
useful national conversation about how people handle a cancer diagnosis. It
has also exposed the foolishness of a few busybodies who don't have cancer,
but feel free to judge the complex choices made by those who do."
Alter writes about fighting the lymphoma, how he lives with cancer and
with the constant threat that it will return. He writes that his story
isn't typical, because none is. "Every patient reacts a little differently,
both biologically and psychologically. The only constant in cancer is
inconstancy; the only certainty is a future of uncertainty, a truism for
all of modern life but one made vivid by life-threatening illness."
Also in the cover package:

-- Lance Armstrong writes an essay about the fight for a cure for cancer.
"Trust me when I say that I'm not complaining about the attention
cancer is finally getting in the media. But I don't understand why it
requires two very upsetting announcements about cancer recurrence to
prompt a national discussion about our nation's second leading killer."
He writes that the repeated use of the word "incurable" in news reports
about Elizabeth Edwards says "something alarming about the complacency
that leads us to just expect another diagnosis with another new day.
It's clear that the way we battle cancer is deeply at odds with our
values as a country, and with our common sense ... The shameful
reality is that we do not ensure that everyone benefits from what we
know today about cancer prevention and detection." He writes, "We can
prevent about one third of cancer deaths just by widely distributing
information about prevention and early detection -- but we aren't doing
it ... We need an unapologetic effort to demand what is right and
champion what works."

-- Political Correspondent Jonathan Darman reports from the John Edwards
campaign. In the two weeks since the Edwardses learned that Elizabeth's
breast cancer has returned and is incurable, the couple has seen an
outpouring of support, including a call from George H.W. Bush, who
suggested a specialist at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. "When
I walk down the street I can't move," John tells Newsweek. "People stop
me: 'How's Elizabeth? We're thinking about her'." The couple faces some
tough choices about how to balance private and public responsibilities,
most notably what to do about their two small children and keeping
Elizabeth healthy on the campaign trail.

Read entire cover package at http://www.Newsweek.com

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