Kennedy RX: a malignant brain tumor
Very depressing news:
BOSTON - A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics’ most enduring figures.
“He remains in good spirits and full of energy,” the doctors for the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.
They said tests conducted after the seizure showed a tumor in Kennedy’s left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.
His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.
Kennedy has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.
“He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital,” said the statement by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy’s primary care physician.
They said Kennedy will remain in the hospital “for the next couple of days according to routine protocol.”
And whatever the outcome, it sounds like a death sentence:
Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It’s an initial diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.
Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing.
He would be up for re-election in 2012, so in all likelihood, the man has run his last elective race. Yet I’d wager he’ll still be a force to be reckoned with as he will not go gently into that good night. And while I’m admittedly very saddened by this news, rather than ponder his end, I’m on my feet right now, giving him a standing ovation for all the good service he’s provided to his family and our country and this world.
Senator Kennedy: you ROCK!
May 20th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Booker, you’re comment’s been deleted and you’re banned from the site. I should also notify your employer about your use of company time, you miserable little wuss.
64.149.174.145 is a traceable IP.
If you intend to insult the Senator and his family, try doing so without the fake email address and your cloak of anonymity. Coward, grow some balls. It’s obviously too late for you to grow some class.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Sen. Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor…
A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors…