John Edwards: "The Campaign Goes On"

Democrat John Edwards is forging ahead with his second bid for the presidency despite the sobering news that his wife, Elizabeth, is battling an incurable reappearance of cancer.

The presidential candidate revealed the closely guarded prognosis — even family friends and some senior campaign staff were unaware — at a news conference Thursday. His wife was by his side in the hotel garden where they held their wedding reception 30 years ago.

Putting to rest speculation about his political future, Edwards told reporters: "The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly."

The recurrence of the cancer — this time on Elizabeth Edwards' bone as stage 4 breast cancer — presents a setback for the couple, both personally and politically. But both said they would stick with their plans to campaign vigorously for the nomination.

"From our perspective, there was no reason to stop," Edwards said. "I don't think we seriously thought about it."

Elizabeth Edwards said: "I expect to do next week all the things I did last week. I don't expect my life to be significantly different."

Edwards had canceled a Tuesday evening house party in Iowa to go with his wife to a doctor's appointment, which his campaign described as a follow-up to a routine test she had Monday.

Faced with questions about how his wife's illness affected his political future, Edwards said he will pursue his second bid for the presidency, but: "Any time, any place I need to be with Elizabeth I will be there — period."

Earlier, The Politico, a politics Web site and a CBS News partner, erroneously reported that Edwards was going to announce he would suspend his presidential campaign. Read The Politico's explanation.

Elizabeth Edwards, 57, was first diagnosed with cancer in the final weeks of the 2004 campaign. The day after Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and Edwards, his running mate, conceded the election to George W. Bush, Edwards announced that his wife had invasive ductal cancer, the most common type of breast cancer, and would undergo treatment.

She underwent several months of radiation and chemotherapy for the lump in her breast. Her husband's campaign has said she had recovered from the illness.

"I don't look sickly, I don't feel sickly. I am as ready as any person can be for that," she said at the news conference.

Democratic strategist James Carville told The Early Show's Hannah Storm that he thinks Edwards relies on his wife "very, very heavily."

"I think they became extremely close after the death of their son," Carville said. "They are a remarkable couple."

John Edwards said a biopsy of his wife's rib had showed that the cancer had returned.

The bone is one of the most common places where breast cancer spreads — and once it does so, it is not considered curable.

"The thing that is true is that her cancer cannot be cured now, Elizabeth will have this as long as she's alive," John Edwards said at the news conference.

How long women survive depends on how widespread the cancer is in the bone, but many can survive for years.

Adrienne Reid is one such survivor. She was diagnosed with breast cancer 15 years ago and thought she beat it. But five years ago, her cancer came back and spread to her bones, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook. However, she says she's learned to live with it.

"I haven't been without treatment for the last five years," she says. "It's just part of my lifestyle. … At first you have to accept it, and once you accept it, it just becomes part of your life."

The longer it takes for cancer to spread after the initial tumor, the better the prognosis. Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed in 2004.

The average survival rate has been 2 1/2 to five years, LaPook reports. But doctors say the odds are improving, thanks to newer therapies that target the cancer with fewer side effects.

"Most of these treatments, unlike traditional chemotherapy drugs aren't just bombs that go in and explode, but they're treatments that are targeted much more specifically for abnormalities that are seen in the cancer cells that aren't seen in a woman's normal cells," says Dr. Eric Winer, director of the Breast Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Chemotherapy and radiation are standard treatments, along with use of drugs that specifically target the bones called bisphosphonates. Other treatments include hormone therapy if the cancer is responsive to estrogen.

Dr. Lisa Carey, Elizabeth Edwards' physician, said that initial tests showed some very small suspicious spots elsewhere, but that the therapy focus would be on the bone. Asked where else, she said "possibly involving the lung."

John Edwards has been a strong contender in the 2008 Democratic race, leading in early polls of the important Iowa caucus-goers who will cast the first ballots in January. His wife has served as his closest political adviser in both his campaigns.

John Edwards made clear that although he's staying on the campaign trail, his wife will come first, reports CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger.

"Let me be absolutely clear. Any time, any place that I need to be with Elizabeth, I will be there," he said.

After the couple's announcement, support poured in from both sides of the political aisle.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said in a release that "Elizabeth has been an inspiration and role model to all of us with her courageous and very public fight against breast cancer. I am hopeful and optimistic that Elizabeth will continue to win her fight."

At the White House, press secretary Tony Snow said "our prayers are with you."

"As somebody who has been through this, Elizabeth Edwards is setting a powerful example for a lot of people and good and positive one," said Snow, who had his colon removed in 2005 and underwent six months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with colon cancer.