disappointment in their life. to many she's an inspiration, a hero. there are people who have been gathering around with signs in pink that say her okay. she have been inspired how she under the scorching, searing spotlight she was able to carry on. one, she lost her son in a terrible automobile accident. she had to deal with her husband's infidelity and on top of that dealing with cancer, all that being open and candid. that's why you have so many people in so many walks of life. the grave side will be private and she will be laid to rest next to her son wade who was killed in 1996. debra. >> marty, it's interesting. i guess her son john edwards, although he was there in the home when she passed will not be speaking. she was an inspiration. she was an inspiration to moms and dads, an inspiration to cancer survivors rooting her own saying you can beat this. the folks you're seeing, when they come out, are they able to talk to anyone, why this woman on the campaign trail so public, she really reached people in very unique ways. no? >> she did. just seeing more signs that go by here, carrying signs that say love, hope. this is how she influenced hope. you saw john edwards when he made the second attempt to run for president in 2007-2008, elizabeth went out on the campaign trail and was very effective campaigning for her husband. she was a very close political adviser to her husband. many times the crowds showed up because of her. not necessarily because of her, because of him, because of her political persuasion but because of the fact she wanted to see her. they wanted to hear her. in many cases they wanted to speak to her because cancer survivors feel a very strong connection. they certainly feel it to her because of the way she handled herself. she was never quiet about the disease in which she suffered. she was diagnosed after election day of 2004. she's treated, goes into remission, then the disease comes back with a vengeance in 2007. then eventually it was that same disease that killed her earlier this week. even during the week she posted on facebook and told all of your supporters exactly what was going on. so it's why so many people, even those that didn't know her personally feel tremendous strength and connection and the reason why they want to be here today. >> certainly a very real and honest woman. marty, thank you very much. we're going to check back in with you a little while later. as family and friends prepare to pay tribute to her today, jessica yellin pace tribute to her legacy. she joins us from washington. she really was a real woman. people connected with her because she wasn't perfect. she admitted she wasn't perfect. >> that's true. she would frequently talk about -- first of all, she openly talked about her struggle with weight, which endeared her to so many people who have gone through the same struggle. it's unusual to hear that from anyone in that political spotlight, especially a political spouse. i attended so many campaign events. as marty said, i wrote somewhere, he was the candidate, often she was the star. she would come out and joked, my husband looks the same as he does the day i met him, look at me, i don't look the same way. she was self-deprecating in that way. she was the nation's most public survivor. she suffered hardship but showed us how to do that without being a victim, finding your strength, maintaining your voice and being a proud, strong person through it all. whether you liked their politics or not, people just admired her grit. >> there was a move after the whole affair became very public obviously, there was a move to kind of demonize her, say, she was controlling, it was her fault. what did you sense when you were following her? >> well, i'll tell you, she was a strong person, strong personality. there are no doubt no shortage of clashes inside the campaign you hear about between a very forceful adviser and staff who also wanted to have a say. that's sort of standard inside campaigns. some of that started to come out towards the end after the 2008 campaign. she was just a woman who would say on the campaign trail, we have to do a better job. if you're not with us already we have to do a ber job convincing you. she's very much, not my husband's have to, we have to. it was part of the campaign package. she redefined in some ways what a political wife is. a much more modern idea of a political wife. deb, if i can add something. i've been in touch with family friends who there are. one of the things i was told, there's a lot of obviously peace she was able to come to terms with by the end but shocked sadness that she went much more quickly than they thought. some thought they would have more time to pay respects. even though she had the six-year struggle at the end it was so sudden. >> we all heard she was taken off medication and 24 hours she passed. that came as a surprise to everybody. she was married to john edwards for 30 years, whether she was strong, it was out of love to her husband and responsibility to the country as well. jessica yellin thank you so much. moving to a different story, emergency surgery on a top nonoc, unono veheay ers e ftouanlws seo nds fevi bod en nghr'hoe tohemecarecrs. 'sheifyogi tay can a trading site help make you a sharper trader? mine can. td ameritrade can. they've got trading specialists i can call for help. and paper trading. free practice trading that helps me hone my technique. complex options. and free tutorials. online or in person. can a trading site really make a difference? if it can't, why are you trading there? number one in online equity trades: td ameritrade. trade commission-free for 30 days, plus get up to $500 when you open an account. america's top diplomat to afghanistan and pakistan is in critical condition in a washington hospital. richard holbrooke fell ill during a meeting of secretary of state hillary clinton. doctors completed surgery to repair a torn aorta. jill dougherty joins us on the phone. what's the latest? >> reporter: the latest is mr. holbrook is in critical condition and his family is with him at george washington university hospital. that hospital is located close to the state department. in fact our cnn crew over there did get a picture of secretary clinton leaving the hospital and we're checking to see why she was there. presumably that would be to see mr. holbrook. so it is a serious condition and it comes at a time, deb, where there is a lot of activity with afghanistan and pakistan and certainly ambassador holbrooke is the key person involved in that. he's been working on the policy review which will be released next week. in a personal sense he's the person that a lot of our viewers and follow with respect on the web is known as the person who brokered peace agreement in bosnia, led to the signing of the dayton peace accords and really is a powerhouse diplomatically in the diplomatic community. very influential letically and also as a diplomat. so of course everyone is hoping he will be okay. it's a difficult time now precisely because of all of the pressure putting together that report. he's been traveling, deb, as you can imagine for literally two years, sometimes so very remote places in afghanistan and pakistan checking up on the policy. really he was and is the architect of that policy. >> he's 70 years old. that kind of schedule just has to be grueling going to afghanistan, going to pakistan. certainly he has tremendous energy. i remember him when he was u.s. ambassador to the united nations. he brokered the deal to get the u.s. to, you know, to get the u.s. what they were owed, certainly more than they were going to pay. do you get the sense -- had he shown signs of slowing down at all? was he still going at that breakneck speed? >> i believe he's actually 69, not quite 70, but close enough. he's up until just i guess an hour or so before he fell ill at the state department he was walking around in the state department, so he is very active. he's a very vigorous man. he did have some problems with his heart. we know that you have to say even looking at him physically, he's a very imposing person with an imposing personality. that's one thing his fellow diplomats and people who know him say about him. he's a very intense persistent person. that is why when the obama administration came in, why president obama and hillary clinton wanted him in that position as a special adviser on afghanistan and pakistan. he is the man who could go in there and do the deals. that's very much a part of diplomacy. so that intensity is there. you can imagine secretary clinton would be concerned at a critical time on a personal level and also with policy. >> very quickly, jill, do you expect this to delay the white house releasing the white house afghanistan pakistan policy review? do you expect this will hinder that in any way? >> no, i don't think so. a lot of people are involved in this. the white house is very, very important, so is the department of defense, because they are assessing the surge. the side of that would be the civilian side as it's referred to, state department usaid and others. that is where ambassador holbrooke comes in in many senses, especially that. >> jill dougherty, that's so much. we're going to check in with you a little later as well. thanks so much. breaking news from new york at this hour. convicted swindler bernie madoff's son mark has been found hanged in new york. hit death, an apparent suicide. our susan candiotti live in new york. his father-in-law found him. what can you tell us? we're having trouble getting susan. we'll go back to that story in a little while. what we do know is he did apparently kill himself. he was the subject of a lawsuit filed this week. he ra really never got over the disgrace his father had brought upon the family. we're going to get susan live momentarily. moving on, remembering a life of struggle and sacrifice, a woman of courage. elizabeth edwards is being laid to rest four days after losing her long battle with cancer. we'll see you on the other side. the droid pro by motorola knows you need business on the go. with its powerful 1 gigahertz processor... ♪ da da da don't cha... ♪ its globetrotting wi-fi hotspotting swagger... it knows you want a rich web experience with adobe flash and access to over 100,000 android apps. finally a work phone worth taking home. hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time. helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. and breaking news from north at this hour. convicted swindler bernie madoff, the man who orchestrated one of the biggest ponzi schemes of the century, his son mark found hanged in his apartment in manhattan. his death an apparent suicide. susan candiotti live from new york. susan, apparently it was his father-in-law who found him prosecutor a stunning development in this case going on for a long time. we're standing in front of the apartment building where mark madoff's body was found, 45 years old. if you count up to the fourth floor, he lived on that entire floor. that's where his father-in-law found him. it was 7:30 this morning when the father-in-law came here and found mark madoff hanging from a pipe in the living room, a black dog's leash was hanging around his neck. it belonged to the family pet, according to police. what happened was this. sometime before mark madoff's death he sent an e-mail to his wife who was not home at the time. she was in florida. in this message in the e-mail, mark madoff said, someone should check on our son. their 2-year-old son was asleep in his bedroom at the time. that's when mrs. madoff called her father. he came over to the apartment, found the body fully clothed hanging from the ceiling. of course police responded right away. the father-in-law called the authorities. they came over, conducted a crime scene investigation to help determine the circumstances surrounding the death and the medical examiner will be performing an autopsy to confirm the cause of death as suicide sometime tomorrow. at this time we don't know whether any kind of suicide message or note was left. police say they are still looking into that. we can certainly tell you this. mark madoff had rough times with family members. certainly his father was serving a life sentence in prison. back in 2009, a trustee trying to recover funds -- october of that year, rather, that he filed a lawsuit against mark madoff as part of the attempt to recover money that had been lost in this biggest ponzi scheme in u.s. history. we don't yet know whether bernie madoff has been notified in prison. we're trying to find that out as well as get reaction from his mother and his brother who lives in new york. debra. >> susan, this family was so respected in new york city financial and social circles. it was such sa huge fall from grace. you wonder if it was what coincidence mark madoff took his life two years to the day his father told everyone this major, $50 billion business he had, was, in fact, nothing more than a sham. so interesting about that suicide note. but also e-mailing his wife to let her know their son, 2-year-old son needed to be checked in on. certainly an interesting twist as well, susan. >> exactly. a lot of curious circumstances surrounding that. a lot of open questions. you point them out quite rightly. was this more than a coincidence he decided to hang himself on the second anniversary of the arrest of his father. was this preplanned. all things police want to know and certainly will be talking about for some time to come as they try to get to the bottom of this. we also have for you, debra, a statement released from the attorney representing mark madoff. here is what he said. quote, mark madoff took his own life today. this is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. he said mark was an innocent victim of his father's monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo. we're all deeply saddened by this shocking turn of events. that is how the statement epds. you'll recall mark madoff has never been criminally charged in this case, though he was the subject of many civil lawsuits. many people believe it would be nearly impossible that he and his brother did not know what was going on. as of now he had never been criminally charged in the case. >> susan, thanks so much for that great reporting. clearly what a tremendous fall from grace. we'll check back with you a little bit later. in this hour, elizabeth edwards funeral. friends and family gathering. you see her there being eulogized. the wife of the former senator and presidential candidate john edwards. she died tuesday after a six-year battle with cancer. her daughter cate is expected to speak about her mom and the love that she had for her family. three children left behind. we'll be with you on that later. also josh levs join us now. those close honoring her life today. many viewers responding as well. she had a very interesting connection with them, used the internet to reach out to many people. moms and dads who lost someone a. >> so many people with so much to say. i've been reaching out online. let's start off with an ireport, a video someone sent remembering liz bed edwards. >> let's focus on the strong women she was, what she did for the fight in health care, breast cancer research. this was a hero in her own right. >> reporter: getting a lot of that. will have her what a lot of writing on facebook and twitter. let's go to facebook here. classy beyond words. the epitome of dignity and grace in the face of tragedy. auto one. i believe she was an inspiration to those she knew and touched in life. rip, rest in peace. she looked like jackie, held her head high. first class and then some. elizabeth was an intelligent, powerful and beautiful woman. she did not slip into the shadows despite all she was facing but kept herself in public view to try to help as many people as possible. she was amazing. nicole daniels, one more here. her first priority was being a mother and that she was. from penelope har mon. i'll get in one tweet. elizabeth edwards was a fighter. i wish her family well. i'll show you my page here. facebook, twitter, blog. i also want to end giving you a quote from elizabeth edwards. something a lot of people talked about. we have that on another screen. this is an amazing quote. resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. you can fight it. you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good. a lot of people remember her words, her wisdom today. i know we'll continue to hear from you all day, deb. >> absolutely. josh, i tried to get a copy of her book. the bookstores were sold out. amazon.com said it would take three months to get it. i borrowed somebody's kindle and downloaded this. she said there's no such thing as perfection. we have a choice about how we integrate the imperfect in our lives. watching as friends and family gather to remember the legacy of elizabeth edwards. that is happening now. her daughter cate expected to remember her mom, what she meant not only to her growing up but to her younger siblings and emma claire and jack and the family at large. we'll be back with you soon. i'm off to the post office... ok. uh, a little help... oh! you know shipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online. and i can pick them up for free with package pickup. perfect! cause i'm gonna need a lot of those. wow! i knew i should have brought my sleigh. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.90 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. with 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(announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. funeral. taking place in raleigh, north carolina. there you see the man who is a long time friend from law school. now, elizabeth edwards, wife of john edwards died tuesday after a long battle with breast cancer. more than 1200 people are there to pay their respects. martin savidge outside the church where the service is taking place. marty, there was expected to be some protests. not specifically related to elizabeth edwards but sort of to politics in general. are you seeing any of that, or was that sort of hyped? >> well, that was the westboro baptist church group. they are notorious for showing up at the funerals of military from afghanistan. she did show up. it was two blocks away. too far for anybody at the funeral. the counter-demonstrators outnumbered them 200 to 1. it was a outnumbered as a shouting match. we saw the casket and john edwards following closely afterwards. john edwards was holding the hands of three children. it's going to fall on cate edwards, the oldest daughter to be one of those that will speak on behalf of their mother. what's powerful, moving, was it was cate who in 1996 after the death of her brother killed in an automobile accident at this very same church delivered his eulogy. so you can imagine the emotions that are doing through her mind today as now she must do something very similar for her own mother. it's not just p