While I like the tone of the post, I believe that the underlying assumption that Elizabeth Edwards is at an end-of-life stage in her illness, and that the Edwards' actions about going forward for a presidential bid are responding to that is not valid.

What Elizabeth has shared about her breast cancer is that it's being treated more as a chronic illlness. She has no outward signs of being terminally ill, which often includes muscle wasting, significant weight loss, edema, and cachexia.

At any rate, very few of us know exactly when our deaths will occur, and in general, we do not make future plans using our predicted times of death as primary drivers.

However, I do admire the Edwards for speaking so overtly about end-of-life issues.

This is an interesting post. Thank you for writing it.

(There are many resources for discussing the ethics about end-of-life care, family issues, and life planning in the oncology healthcare literature and in the nursing research literature, which is generally how I approach this issue anecdotally.)

They already lost a son. I think they've both had the time to deal with the idea of death, unlike many Americans in their mood-altering, drug-induced stupor. If anything, I think that makes them better humans in any respect.

and a reminder that the Edwardses are, neither of them, prepacked political products. They are real, regular -- and yet extraordinary -- human beings.