May 20 2008
Kennedy has brain tumor
Senator Kennedy Has Malignant Brain Tumor
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant tumor in his brain, his doctors said Tuesday.
Tests performed over the weekend at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicated that Mr. Kennedy, 76, has a type of cancer known as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, the upper left portion of his brain. Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, suffered a seizure on Saturday in Cape Cod and was airlifted to the hospital for treatment.
The doctors said on Tuesday that the senator was “in overall good condition,” had been walking around the hospital, and had suffered no more seizures since Saturday.
“The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy,” Dr. Lee Schwamm, the vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, a primary care physician at the hospital, said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
The National Cancer Institute says that malignant glioma is the most common form of brain cancer, accounting for about 9,000 cases diagnosed each year in the United States. The prognosis depends on the severity of the tumor, although the institute’s Web site says it is generally poor.
Mr. Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962, when his older brother John F. Kennedy was president, and is serving his eighth term. He is been in the senate longer than any current senator except Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia.[..]
“Ted Kennedy has spent his life caring for those in need,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. “Now it’s time for those who love Ted and his family to care for them and join in prayer to give them strength.”
Please forgive the lateness of this report. We spent the day in Fort Worth. The M-I-L (90 years old next month) is in the hospital with pneumonia.
I hate hospitals.
One Response to “Kennedy has brain tumor”
I was sorry to hear this. As Hannity said today, life transcends politics, and while I agree with practically nothing in Senator Kennedy’s politics, this is a sad story to hear.