Ted Kennedy
This entry was posted on 5/20/2008 1:01 PM and is filed under Bad News,All Posts,Announcements.
It's been confirmed that the cause of the seizure Sen. Kennedy suffered on Saturday is a malignant brain tumor. While we aren't hearing more from his own doctors other than that he will likely undergo radiation and chemotherapy, experts have been describing the prognosis for a 78-year old man with this type of tumor—"malignant glioma"—as pretty grim.
This type of tumor spreads around the brain extremely fast, apparently. Those who opt for surgery, and survive, tend to add only a handful of years to their lives. If surgery is ruled out—which it usually is—chemotherapy and radiation add merely a matter of months.
Ted is, in my opinion, the very best his family's storied legacy has had to offer. Let's hope he proves the experts wrong one more time.
I'd like to add a personal anecdote. I have a friend I met about seven years ago, who looked healthy as a horse. One day, standing a few feet behind him, I noticed a scar running down the back of his head, and then down the back of his neck. I gently inquired about it, and he said he'd survived a brain tumor a few years before. I replied, "well, it must have been benign, right?"
He replied, "Malignant. They caught it just as it was beginning to travel down my spine."
Today, he's still healthy as a horse. Anything is possible, folks. 
