Elizabeth Edwards and Kay Yow: Two profiles in courage
Having watched the interview of John and Elizabeth Edwards on "60 Minutes" and a touching profile of N.C. State coach Kay Yow's battle with cancer on ESPN over the weekend, I am more and more aware of the reason both women have chosen to live their lives as fully and as normally as possible while battling the disease.
Yow returned to coach the N.C. State women's basketball team this season after undergoing treatment for a recurrence of her breast cancer.
Edwards announced the reappearance of her own breast cancer in a news conference last week in which she and husband John Edwards also said John's presidential campaign will continue. The new cancer is treatable but not curable.
Never mind. The talk show callers were brutal Monday morning, huffing that John Edwards should end his campaign and spend time with his ailing wife.
I must admit initially expecting John Edwards to shutter his presidential bid, but after hearing the couple's news conference, I understood why he wouldn't. They want to live their lives. What would they do instead, sit around and mope?
I don't know what I would do if I were in a similar situation, but I might want to do whatever it is that matters most to me ... my passion in life.
That's why, I imagine, Kay Yow was coaching and John and Elizabeth Edwards are campaigning. (Elizabeth Edwards, in fact, has a book signing in Jamestown Wednesday.)
"I'd rather be doing this more than anything I know of," Yow told ESPN of her love for coaching.
Comments (7)
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There are only 2 kinds of women in America: those who have breast cancer and those who are worried they'll get it. I can't find a similar metaphor for men.
Posted on March 27, 2007 8:50 AM
Although I admire Elizabeth Edwards and understand the couple's decision, I think it's a stretch to call running for president an act of "living their lives."
A presidential campaign is a grueling 365-days-a-year affair that taxes the endurance of even the most healthy and fit candidates. To say, as John Edwards did, that the campaign will go on "strongly" is to ignore the realities of Elizabeth's needs and the demands of life on the campaign trail.
Combine all that with Edwards' cellar-dwelling status on the list of Democrat candidates and you've got every reason to stay home and care for your wife and family.
Posted on March 27, 2007 10:07 AM
I guess you could say the same for Yow. Coaching collegiate sports is tiring, stressful and demanding. But that's who she is and what she does.
Posted on March 27, 2007 11:27 AM
I agree, Allen. There are many, many more good reasons for John Edwards to drop out of the presidential campaign than the fact that his wife has cancer. I could easily think of a dozen, beginning with his being a nitwit and his strong-arm tactics with Wal-Mart during the PlayStation debacle.
Posted on March 27, 2007 2:50 PM
But the voters in Iowa like him, Brian .. and it's very early in the campaign.
Posted on March 27, 2007 3:29 PM
That's Iowa for you.
Posted on March 27, 2007 4:05 PM
To be perfectly frank, I'm not sold on Edwards as a candidate. Never have been.
But I believe it is he and his wife's choice and and their business -- not ours -- whether he chooses to stay in the race or drop out.
Posted on March 27, 2007 4:17 PM