Elizabeth Edwards Quotes

When they told me I had cancer - a very rare form called appendiceal cancer - I was shocked. But I went straight into battle mode. Every morning, I'd wake up and have an internal conversation with cancer. 'All right, dude,' I'd tell it, 'go ahead and hit me. But I'm going to hit you back even harder.'

I won't let anything destroy me.

Cancer has changed, and so have I. Life goes on, even becomes normal again. I refused to let cancer wreck my party. There are just too many cool things to do and plan and live for.

I have been tested. My faith has been tested. I have battled breast cancer. I have buried a child. Through it all, the love of my family and my personal relationship with Jesus Christ has seen me through. And on this journey my family and my faith will see me through as well. I will not falter, and I will not shrink from this fight.

Before my diagnosis [cancer] I was a competitor but not a fierce competitor. When I was diagnosed, that turned me into a fighter.

People talk about the courage of cancer patients, and I do not deny that courage. I had been poked and stabbed and poisoned for years, and still I trod on. But make no mistake: In that moment, I would have been very, very happy to die.

I'm battling cancer. It's another battle I intend to win.

You know, once you've stood up to cancer, everything else feels like a pretty easy fight.

Working out is my way of saying to cancer, 'You're trying to invade my body; you're trying to take me away from my daughters, but I'm stronger than you. And I'm going to hit harder than you.'

My philosophy, don't let cancer ruin your life. You get up every day and use what you have and what time you have left.

I didn't have anybody, really, no foundation in life, so I had to make my own way. Always, from the start. I had to go out in the world and become strong, to discover my mission in life.

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don't be discouraged that my own journey hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope.

You have to decide if you're going to wilt like a daisy or if you're just going to go forward and live the life that you've been granted.

For almost 20 years, I've reported on some amazing feats of athleticism for ESPN. But the one thing that stood out, game after game, is that it takes a team to win. When I got cancer, that lesson got personal. And Team Livestrong became my team.

I took on cancer like I take on everything - like a mission and a job to accomplish.

I want to live. I didn't have time to die.

I don't want to live my life to necessarily overcome struggle, but when I am going to hit struggle throughout my life, I face it head on.

Within my first year of moving abroad living on my own, my sister got ill - she got cancer - and at the same time, my mum got cancer, and she passed away. I think at that time it was a hard challenge for me to deal with it, but in a way, I have always taken strength out of anything that has come at me.

It seems everybody has been somehow affected by cancer, either through a relative or a close friend or somewhere, and they know how devastating cancer can be. And they see me, and I refuse to let it affect how I live and what I do.

I spoke to a girl today who had cancer and we were talking about how this is such a hard thing for her, but it taught her a big lesson on who her friends are and so much about life. She's 18. And I was like, that's how I feel.

I'd like to prove to other people that it's not the end of everything to be diagnosed with cancer.

We are survivors from the moment of diagnosis.

Cancer is not for sissies.

The day it all changed. The day I stated never to take anything for granted. The day I learned to take charge of my life. It was the day I was diagnosed with cancer.

The best revenge is to always survive yourself.