CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 22 — John Edwards, the North Carolina Democrat, said today that his wife’s cancer had returned, but that his bid for the presidency “goes on strongly.”
“The campaign goes on, the campaign goes on strongly,” he said, with his wife, Elizabeth, at his side.
Mr. Edwards said he learned earlier this week that the cancer had reappeared in his wife’s rib cage. He said he and his wife recognized that it was no longer curable, though it could be managed with treatment.
Asked by a reporter whether recurrence of the cancer would cause him to suspend any campaign activities, such as fundraising or travel, Mr. Edwards said no. “We know from our previous experience that when this happens you have a choice, you can go cower in the corner and hide, or you can be tough and go out there and stand up for what you believe in,” he said.
“Both of us are committed to the cause and we’re committed to changing this country that we love so much and we have no intention of cowering in the corner,” Mr. Edwards said.
He said that after the news conference they would leave together for New York and Boston, and then to California on Friday.
Mrs. Edwards said she had the energy to continue the campaign. “I am absolutely ready for that,” she said.
Her doctor said at the news conference that Mrs. Edwards had meta-static, or stage four, breast cancer, meaning that it is an advanced stage that has spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes to other organs. Mr. Edwards said that because the tumor was relatively small and because there was a relatively minimal presence of cancer in other places they were optimistic.
“The bottom line is her cancer is back,” he said. “We are very optimistic about this because having been through some struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up and keep moving and be strong.”
“We intend to do exactly that,” he said.
According to statistics from the American Cancer Society, 26.1 percent of patients with stage four cancer live five years or more. By contrast, patients whose cancer is confined to the breast and has not spread to surrounding tissue or lymph nodes have a five-year survival rate of 98 percent.Mr. Edwards said many patients have lived many years, managing their condition in a way he likened to someone with diabetes who rely on insulin treatment.
“I intend to do the same thing I have always done with Elizabeth,” Mr. Edwards said. “‘We have been married for 30 years, known each other longer than that. We will be in this every step of the way together.”
In the hours before the announcement, there had been widespread speculation that Mr. Edwards would suspend his campaign today or withdraw entirely. A few news outlets and political web sites carried what proved to be incorrect reports to that effect before the Edwardses spoke in North Carolina.
So Mr. Edwards’s announcement that he would remain in the race surprised some political insiders, and word of it was relayed quickly across Capitol Hill, with aides telegraphing the news by Blackberry to their bosses. Others crowded around televisions in the House and the Senate, watching Mrs. Edwards speak.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Elizabeth Edwards and the whole family,” Senator Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat who also is seeking his party’s presidential nomination, said in an interview as he walked from the Capitol. “She’s a strong woman of great character and she’s a fighter.”
Mr. Obama, whose mother died of breast cancer more than a decade ago, added: “Obviously, all of us can relate to a family member being sick. I just want to make sure that they are doing O.K. and their family is doing O.K.”
The White House spokesman, Tony Snow, himself a cancer survivor, expressed his support.
“When you have cancer, it’s very important to keep checking,” he said. “She’s being aggressive. She’s living an active life. And a positive attitude, prayers and people you love are always a very good addition to any kind of medicine you have.”
“So for Elizabeth Edwards, good going,” he said. “Our prayers are with you.”
The announcement came a day after Mr. Edwards canceled a campaign appearance in Iowa to rush home to join his wife at a visit with doctors who are monitoring her treatment for breast cancer. He attended a fund-raising picnic here Wednesday night.
Mrs. Edwards received her original diagnosis of breast cancer at the end of the 2004 campaign, but deferred a public announcement until after the election results came in. Mr. Edwards has said he waited to announce a second bid for the presidency until he and Mrs. Edwards’s doctors were confident about her recovery.
Mr. Edwards is considered a top contender for the presidency. Although he tends to finish third in national polls behind Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, he is leading in some early polls in Iowa, which holds the first nominating contests in the nation. Mr. Edwards finished second in the Iowa caucuses in 2004, making him an obvious contender for the vice presidential nomination with the eventual nominee, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
This year he has placed special emphasis on winning the Iowa contest. He has visited the state 19 times since early 2005 and has said that he believes winning the caucuses is crucial to his chances of capturing the nomination.
Mr. Edwards has staked out a position to the left of most of the other Democratic contenders, invoking populist language and imagery to appeal to working class and middle class Democratic primary voters.
He advocates an immediate withdrawal of 50,000 troops from Iraq and virtually complete disengagement by the end of next year. He has proposed an ambitious and expensive plan for universal health care. He would pay for the $90 billion to $120 billion health care plan by repealing the Bush-sponsored tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This week, he announced a plan to combat global warming and reduce dependence on imported oil.
Mrs. Edwards has been one of her husband’s closest confidantes in both of his presidential campaigns. A former bankruptcy lawyer, who often spends hours a day on the Internet, she is among the campaign’s chief advisers.
Through her book, “Saving Graces,” she wrote about the loss she felt after their son, Wade, was killed in a car accident in 1996. At age 48 and 50 she had two more children, saying it was the only way to bring joy back into their home for her, her husband and their daughter, Cate.
During the 2004 presidential race, Mrs. Edwards became a fixture on the campaign trail. She often would be dispatched to blue-collar settings, hardly stereotypical audiences for a political spouse. Her military upbringing, she once said, made her perfectly suited for a life on the road.
