Ted Kennedy has cancer
While we're busy watching the primary returns tonight (Hillary has won Kentucky handily), I figured I'd put up a post about this. The cause of his seizures has been discovered. Senator Ted Kennedy has a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe:
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor Tuesday in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy. Some experts gave the liberal lion less than a year to live.
Doctors discovered the tumor after the 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered a seizure over the weekend. The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news.
"Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family have faced adversity more times in more instances with more courage and more determination and more grace than most families have to," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Every one of us knows what a big heart this fellow has. He's helped millions and millions of people — from the biggest of legislation on the floor to the most personal." ...
Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a region of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language.
Seizures can be caused by a wide variety of things, some of them relatively minor. The finding of a brain tumor — and specifically a glioma, an especially lethal type — was about the worst possible news.
Kennedy's doctors said he will remain in the hospital for the next couple of days as they consider chemotherapy and radiation. They did not mention surgery, a possible indication the tumor is inoperable.
Outside experts gave him no more than three years — and perhaps far less.
"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
In a statement, Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary physician, said the senator "has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital."
"He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the physicians said.
All right, listen up. This is a sad day for him and his family. Put aside the partisan differences. We don't like Ted Kennedy anymore than we like the average, A-typical liberal. But the man is definitely dying. While the cancer can be forced into remission through chemo and radiation treatment, doctors aren't too hopeful. So let's keep the man and his family in our prayers, shall we? He is an overbearing, bloviating, liberal windbag that's more headaches than he's worth, but he's still a human being, and he's owed at least that much respect. Don't go the way of the Kos-Kiddies, and take delight in another person's suffering.
We're better than that, folks. Let's show it.
Publius II
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor Tuesday in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy. Some experts gave the liberal lion less than a year to live.
Doctors discovered the tumor after the 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered a seizure over the weekend. The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news.
"Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family have faced adversity more times in more instances with more courage and more determination and more grace than most families have to," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Every one of us knows what a big heart this fellow has. He's helped millions and millions of people — from the biggest of legislation on the floor to the most personal." ...
Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a region of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language.
Seizures can be caused by a wide variety of things, some of them relatively minor. The finding of a brain tumor — and specifically a glioma, an especially lethal type — was about the worst possible news.
Kennedy's doctors said he will remain in the hospital for the next couple of days as they consider chemotherapy and radiation. They did not mention surgery, a possible indication the tumor is inoperable.
Outside experts gave him no more than three years — and perhaps far less.
"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
In a statement, Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary physician, said the senator "has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital."
"He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the physicians said.
All right, listen up. This is a sad day for him and his family. Put aside the partisan differences. We don't like Ted Kennedy anymore than we like the average, A-typical liberal. But the man is definitely dying. While the cancer can be forced into remission through chemo and radiation treatment, doctors aren't too hopeful. So let's keep the man and his family in our prayers, shall we? He is an overbearing, bloviating, liberal windbag that's more headaches than he's worth, but he's still a human being, and he's owed at least that much respect. Don't go the way of the Kos-Kiddies, and take delight in another person's suffering.
We're better than that, folks. Let's show it.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home