MCCAIN BATTLING BRAIN CANCER
80- year- old has glioblastoma
WASHINGTON — Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, his office said in a statement Wednesday.
The 80- year- old lawmaker has glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, where McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last Friday. The senator and his family are reviewing further treatment, including a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.
“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” his office said in a statement.
About 20,000 people in the U. S. each year are diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain tumor. The American Cancer Society puts the five- year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.
The tumor digs tentacle- like roots into normal brain tissue. Patients fare best when surgeons can cut out all the visible tumor, which happened with McCain’s tumor, according to his office. That isn’t a cure; cancerous cells that aren’t visible still tend to lurk, the reason McCain’s doctors are considering further treatment.
It’s the same type of tumor that struck the late Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The senator had been recovering at his Arizona home. His absence had forced Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., to delay action on health care legislation.
“Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon,” said President Donald Trump.
Former President Barack Obama said in a tweet: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”
McConnell called McCain a “hero to our conference and a hero to our country. He has never shied from a fight and I know that he will face this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his life.”
“CANCER DOESN’T KNOW WHAT IT’S UP AGAINST. GIVE IT HELL, JOHN.” FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA