Elizabeth Edwards succumbs to breast cancer at 61

London, Dec 8 (ANI): Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards, has succumbed to breast cancer that she had been fighting for many years.

According to the Telegraph, the news of her death came just hours after the former lawyer and author wrote on her Facebook page that she had stopped taking treatment as doctors were of the opinion that any further therapy would be futile.

"The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human," she wrote on her Facebook page.

"It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel towards everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know," she added.

Edwards had separated from her husband in January after acknowledging the fact that her husband had fathered a child with another woman during his failed 2008 presidential bid.

However her husband had returned back to her house in North Carolina to care for their two younger children and was at her bedside before her death, the paper said.

Edward's elder daughter, other family members, former campaign advisers and other friends, were also reportedly present before she finally gave up her fight to the dreaded disease.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after the 2004 campaign, when her husband was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee with Senator John Kerry.

Although the cancer was found to have spread in 2007, she had reportedly decided to continue campaigning as Edwards vied for the Democratic presidential nomination. (ANI)