Elizabeth Edwards Dies in North Carolina

Just one day after the family announced Elizabeth Edwards' cancer treatment had run its course, the news out of North Carolina is that the 61-year-old estranged wife of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards succumbed to her illness and passed away Tuesday afternoon. WRAL reports:

Edwards died at her Chapel Hill home, where family and friends had gathered in recent days after doctors informed her that her cancer had spread and recommended that she not undergo further treatment.

Edwards was first diagnosed with cancer in the waning days of the 2004 presidential campaign, when her husband, then-U.S. Sen. John Edwards, was the Democratic nominee for vice president. The couple didn't disclose her illness until after the election.

The cancer went into remission after surgery and months of treatment, but it resurfaced in early 2007, as John Edwards was mounting a second run at the White House. The Edwardses agreed at the time that they wouldn't allow the cancer to derail his candidacy.

Because the cancer had moved into her bones, her doctors said at that time that it was no longer curable but could be treated.

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