Jim Sarah Brady

Independent Spirits

Their friendship with "Mayor Bob" aside, the Bradys have limited their political involvement locally. And Sarah's odyssey through the legislative process to pass common sense gun laws has altered her view of party loyalty. After decades of serving the Republican party, she found herself thanking President Clinton for signing the Brady Bill in 1993.

"Jim is a registered Republican," Sarah explains. "I grew up as a Republican, but now I'm an Independent. We're going to a [Senator Joseph] Biden fundraiser tonight." In fact, they co-chaired that event, as they have others, but they pick and choose with care. "We support [Representative] Mike Castle, and we'd do anything for him," Sarah says. "But we're kind of politically moderate."

"Neuters" Jim says.

Sarah explains, "We don't just look at a party and say, 'that's perfect.' It's whoever we feel would do the best job, based on the issues we care about."

Sarah's objective is making sure they don't overextend themselves. Although no longer a board member of The Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, she is still active in pursuing legislation for

responsible gun ownership. Jim, too, makes appearances at fundraisers and press conferences. Local requests for their involvement are carefully weighed against their desire simply to relax in this seaside setting.

But when local acquaintance Christine Strauss calls to ask if Sarah will be a "celebrity" bartender on the roof of the Atlantic Sands Hotel during Rehoboth's July fireworks display, Sarah accepts, saying, "Now this is my kind of thing." Proceeds will help fund Rehoboth Main Street, Inc.

Beebe's Best Press

Another local cause Jim and Sarah take to heart is fundraising for Beebe Medical Center. They co-chair the

annual Beebe Thanksgiving Ball, and are honorary co-chairs of Vision 2005, the medical center's planned capital campaign.

"They've recruited really good doctors in a lot of areas," Sarah says. "Jim's been to the ER twice - neither time with anything horrible - but we've watched their triage, the way they handle things, and they are very good. When I was first diagnosed with cancer, I called my cousin, who's an oncological radiologist, and asked him what I should be doing. Should I go back to Washington, or go to [Johns] Hopkins? And he said to take it step by step. 'Meet the

doctors and you'll just know. Trust your own judgment.' And as I went from Dr. [Michael] Salvatore to Dr. [James] Spellman to Dr. [Srihari] Peri, and Dr. [Andrejs] Strauss, I had the utmost confidence."

Her confidence, it turns out, was warranted. Rather than removing the upper right lobe of her lung - major surgery that requires six months of recovery - Spellman tested lymph nodes first to see if the cancer had spread. It had. The discovery permitted Sarah to embark on an aggressive chemotherapy regime immediately. "I had a friend who was diagnosed [with lung cancer] in Washington," Sarah says. "They took out her lung only to find it had spread, like mine had. She underwent this horrendous operation, and lost three or four months in rehab before she could even start chemo. Now she's gone."

When traditional chemotherapy drugs failed to eradicate the cancer, Peri got Sarah into trials for an experimental drug, Iressa, at Johns Hopkins. Now, according to Sarah, Beebe's Tunnel Cancer Center offers Iressa and

participates in other new drug trials as well.

Living in the Moment -- Together

While Sarah's cancer fight may have reinforced the bond between the Bradys, they have always shared an

extraordinary connection. When asked what glue holds them together, Jim replies without hesitation: "Love. And that's good glue." But their good-natured disagreements are not exactly those of your average couple. Sarah says she once injected Jim's thigh with emergency drugs to stop a seizure, while he insists it went into his stomach. Then there is the debate about how to address heads of state:

Jim asks, "How about Al? Mr. Vice President - Al. Did I not go off when you did that?'

Sarah explains: "We were at a party at their house, and I called him Al, and Jim about had a heart attack. I've

always called him Al."

Jim repeats, "I call him Mr. Vice President."

"You had a heart attack when I called Joe Biden Joe," Sarah says.

"It's Senator Biden," Jim insists.

"But I've never called Bill Clinton Bill," Sarah muses.

At the suggestion that Clinton actually encourages people to call him Bill, Jim retorts, "Only the women."

Sarah confirms the obvious when asked what gets them through the tough times. "I don't have any profound

wisdom, except how important it is to have a sense of humor. Both of us rely on that.

"If there is any good side to cancer," she says, "it's that it teaches that you better live for today. You better start doing what you want to do, and enjoying life, and looking around you. I think I was conditioned to it, because I saw my father die young [from lung cancer], and Jim get hurt, and I know it can happen to anybody. So you better find time to enjoy what you've got right now instead of planning for some unknown thing. I mean, what are we waiting for? It's insane to me, how some people come down here for vacation" - here, she addresses Jim - "and you used to be like this before you were hurt - you would be up at 6 in the morning, surf fishing, cooking breakfast, and you couldn't sit still and relax."

Now wise in the ways of living in the moment, Jim says: "My recommendation is do it. Instead of trying to make it more difficult, just say yes."

Sarah sums it up perfectly in her book:

I most especially love to sit on the beach and watch the ocean and the sand. Every day it's different. Depending on the weather and the waves, the beach itself grows and shrinks, and each day brings shapes and patterns, pools and gullies, that were not there before. Some days there are shells, and some days there are none. The water can be rough and wild or still and shining. It's always a wonder to behold.