Two months ago, Elizabeth Edwards was laboring to climb the stairs of the old colonial house she had recently bought in Chapel Hill, N.C., for herself and her youngest two children. Separated from husband John since January, she looked forward to making a fresh start come springtime in this new home.
But even as she daydreamed on this sunny October day, Edwards, 61, gasped for breath with tears in her eyes and cursed her chemo.
"Damn these drugs," she cried. "Damn cancer."
Elizabeth Edwards would never move into that house. Instead, just days after learning that the breast cancer she had been fighting off-and-on since 2004 had spread to her liver, and that treatment was no longer productive, she died in the home she built with John.
"She's at peace," said a close friend who saw her the day she died, surrounded by friends and family, including her children and estranged husband. "After so much pain the past several years, it was an easy passing, and she deserved that."
For more on the triumphs and heartbreaks of Elizabeth Edwards's life, pick up the new issue of People, on newsstands now.
Elizabeth Edwards – a political wife whose personal dramas, including her husband's infidelity and her six-year battle against breast cancer, were played out on a public stage – died from the disease Tuesday. She was 61.
"Today we have lost the comfort of Elizabeth's presence but she remains the heart of this family," the Edwards family says in a statement. "We love her and will never know anyone more inspiring or full of life."
She died at her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., surrounded by her family.
"On behalf of Elizabeth we want to express our gratitude to the thousands of kindred spirits who moved and inspired her along the way," the statement adds. "Your support and prayers touched our entire family."
President Barack Obama called Edwards's husband, former Democratic North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, and their daughter Cate to offer condolences.
"In her life, Elizabeth Edwards knew tragedy and pain. Many others would have turned inward; many others in the face of such adversity would have given up," Obama and First Lady Michelle say in a statement. "But through all that she endured, Elizabeth revealed a kind of fortitude and grace that will long remain a source of inspiration. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends."
Former President Bill Clinton also sent his condolences saying, "With the passing of Elizabeth Edwards, America has lost a symbol of strength, hope, and humanity. Her children have lost a loving mother, her friends a wise counselor. My prayers are with them."
On Dec. 6, 2010, it was announced that her doctors decided that further treatment for her breast cancer would be unproductive and that she only had a short time left to live.
That same day, on her Facebook page, Edwards thanked supporters and wrote, "The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. 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."
First diagnosed with cancer in 2004, Edwards went into remission until the 2008 presidential campaign.
Her husband declined to withdraw from the race – a decision he announced at a press conference with his wife stoically standing at his side.
A few months later, however, he was effectively forced out of his bid for the White House by frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
In a heartbreaking later episode that at first brought denials from John Edwards and then a frank admission, the former politician acknowledged fathering a child with a videographer who worked for his campaign. John and Elizabeth Edwards separated in January 2010, after three decades of marriage.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., and an attorney by training (she and John met in law school at the University of North Carolina, and married in 1977), Elizabeth Edwards is survived by three children, ranging in age from 28 to 10: Cate, Emma Claire and Jack. Her eldest child, Wade, was killed in a 1996 car accident when he was 16.
As she wrote on the day it was announced she would stop having treatment, "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."
Elizabeth Edwards's cancer fight has taken a turn for the worse, with the disease spreading to her liver and doctors recommending against additional treatment.
"Elizabeth has been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be unproductive. She is resting at home with family and friends," the Edwards family said in a statement.
On Monday, Edwards, 61, posted a Facebook message to her friends.
"I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope," she writes. "These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that."
Edwards, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2004, was briefly hospitalized last week after not feeling well over Thanksgiving. Doctors said her cancer had metastasized to the liver.
With the sudden turn, family members – including daughter Cate, a Washington lawyer, and her brother and sister, Jay and Nancy Anania – hastened to Chapel Hill, N.C., to be with her.
"It isn’t possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day," Edwards wrote on Facebook. "To you I simply say: you know. With love, Elizabeth."
John Edwards spoke out Wednesday in response to a People report he and wife Elizabeth quietly separated before his admission he fathered a love child.
“It is an extraordinarily sad moment, but I love my children more than anything and still care deeply about Elizabeth," the former two-time Democratic presidential candidate says in a statement.
In a cover story on newsstands Friday, People reports that last December, in a mediated visit in a North Carolina hotel, Elizabeth met the 23-month-old baby whom John had fathered with a mistress.
After that, "She said, 'I've had it. I can't do this. I want my life back,' " Elizabeth's sister, Nancy Anania, tells People. The couple now occupy separate residences.
A spokeswoman for Elizabeth has released a statement saying she's "moving on with her life" after a "excruciatingly painful period for her."
Two months ago, Elizabeth Edwards was laboring to climb the stairs of the old colonial house she had recently bought in Chapel Hill, N.C., for herself and her youngest two children. Separated from husband John since January, she looked forward to making a fresh start come springtime in this new home.
