Ted Kennedy Diagnosed With Malignant Brain Tumor

Principessa

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My thoughts and prayers are with Senator Kennedy and his family.

Ted Kennedy Diagnosed With Malignant Brain Tumor

Massachusetts Senator Suffered Seizure, Rushed to Hospital This Weekend

By RICK KLEIN and ED O'KEEFE

May 20, 2008 —

Sen. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and will remain hospitalized for at least several additional days as he and his family determine treatment options.

The Massachusetts Democrat suffered a seizure Saturday and has since been hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been talking and joking with family and friends while undergoing a battery of tests that revealed the malignant tumor, a glioma in the left parietal lobe, according to the hospital.
"He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition and is up and walking around the hospital," Drs. Lee Schwamm and Larry Ronan said in a joint statement released by the hospital.

"The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy," they said. "Decisions regarding the best course of treatment for Sen. Kennedy will be determined after further testing and analysis."

Kennedy, the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history, has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962.

"Tough days ahead," a Kennedy family friend told ABC News, "but (Senator Kennedy is) in fighting mood."

Another Kennedy family member said they are bringing in another doctor for further evaluation adding, "This is not a good time."

Vicki Kennedy, the Senator's wife, informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Tuesday afternoon of Kennedy's diagnosis. Reid, in turn, informed the Senate Democratic caucus at their weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill.

President George W. Bush was informed by staff about Kennedy's brain tumor. White House spokesperson Dana Perino said the president was "deeply saddened" and would keep him in his prayers.

Kennedy Suffers Seizure, Rushed to Hospital This Weekend

Kennedy, the last of three brothers who changed the American political scene in 1960s, was taken by ambulance to a Cape Cod hospital Saturday morning and later flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston by helicopter.

"Preliminary tests have determined that he has not suffered a stroke and is not in any immediate danger," Kennedy's physician Dr. Larry Ronan said Saturday evening. "He's resting comfortably, and watching the Red Sox game with his family.
Kennedy's wife, Victoria, was with him at the hospital, Kennedy family spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

Several other members of the senator's family visited him at the hospital, including his three children, Kara, Edward Jr. and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, niece Caroline Kennedy and nephew, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy, II.
He spent much of the afternoon watching sports on television: first the Boston Red Sox game, then the Boston Celtics' playoff game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kennedy went to Cape Cod Hospital Saturday "after feeling ill at his home" in Hyannisport, Cutter said.

"We got a 911 call at 8:19 a.m. (Saturday) morning for a request for an ambulance," Lt. Bill Rex, a spokesperson for Hyannisport Fire and Rescue, confirmed to ABC News, Saturday. "We transferred one male to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis."
Kennedy's doctors in Boston were contacted, and it was decided he should be taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for further testing.

Rex also confirmed that an ambulance was later used to transport Kennedy to an airlift from Barnstable Municipal Airport for an emergency flight to Boston.

*SNIP*

'Liberal Lion' Still Roars

Even though he is the third-longest serving senator in the history of the body -- with 45 years and two months in office, behind only current Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina -- Kennedy is one of the hardest-working members of Congress.

As the chair of the Health Education and Labor Committee, he was the Democrat who ran the Senate floor last week when senators were considering a bill to give collective bargaining rights to all police and firemen. He was also the chief Democrat who fought for a recently passed student loan improvements bill.
Kennedy chaired a widely covered hearing on May 12 about how to fight cancer. Among the people who testified during that hearing were Lance Armstrong, Elizabeth Edwards and Steve Case.

Kennedy was also set to play a pitvotal role for Democrats as they consider the supplemental war funding bill next week. Kennedy was one of the loudest critics of the war in Iraq from its outset.

Before his illness this weekend, Kennedy was apparently working; his office released a statement in his name, congratulating Benjamin Jealous on his election as head of the NAACP.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who received an endorsement from Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy before the Super Tuesday contests in February, told reporters he has "been in contact with the [Kennedy] family."

"They are in our thoughts and prayers," Obama said. "As I have said many times before, Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history. He has done more for health care of others than just about anybody in history, and so, we are going to be rooting for him. And I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."


President George W. Bush called Kennedy Monday to wish him well in his recovery. Bush did not reach Kennedy, who was undergoing tests at the time of the call, but instead talked to the Senator's wife, Vicki Kennedy.

"Take care of my friend," Bush told Mrs. Kennedy, according to Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist and Kennedy family spokesperson.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also released a statement on Kennedy, saying, "I was very sorry to hear that Sen. Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Sen. Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him."

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., campaigning in Oregon, said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We wish him well, and a quick recovery."

Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts' other senator, who was at the hospital with Kennedy and other members of his family, released a statement saying, "Ted Kennedy is beloved and respected on both sides of the aisle in the Senate, in which he's been a giant for close to half a century, a legend in Massachusetts, and a dear friend to me and [Kerry's wife] Teresa.

"He's also been a fighter who has overcome adversity again and again with courage, grit and determination," Kerry's statement said. "Teresa and I are praying for Teddy, Vicki and all of his family, and we know that everyone in Massachusetts and people throughout the nation pray for a full and speedy recovery for a man whose life's work has touched millions upon millions of lives."


The Associated Press and ABC News' Jen Duck,
 

B_jacknapier

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Motherfucker voted for the Iraq War, just like Hillary!

Also that joke about his liver was actually pretty funny. You see, Indy, Ted Kennedy has a famous drinking problem.
 

Pecker

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My mother, for whom I've been caregiver for the last 18 years, died last week of a brain lesion from a similar tumor.

I feel for Sen. Kennedy and his family. This kind of thing can go quickly unless nature is allowed to take its course.
 

WifeOfBath

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If you thought that was funny it wasn't........have some respect

My father ultimately succumbed to a brain tumor. I know how awful it is and what he faces. It's tragic, there's no denying that. It was just a little gallows humor...

... and I feel I showed a great deal of restraint by holding off on making some sort of crack about Mary Jo Kopechne and/or Chappaquiddick.
 

Industrialsize

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My father ultimately succumbed to a brain tumor. I know how awful it is and what he faces. It's tragic, there's no denying that. It was just a little gallows humor...

... and I feel I showed a great deal of restraint by holding off on making some sort of crack about Mary Jo Kopechne and/or Chappaquiddick.
you are shameless
 

Industrialsize

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Motherfucker voted for the Iraq War, just like Hillary!

Also that joke about his liver was actually pretty funny. You see, Indy, Ted Kennedy has a famous drinking problem.
He's my Senator, I live in Massachusetts, he feels like a member of my family.....joking at this time is in terribly poor taste. Whatever you may think of Senator kennedy as a poltician, he is a man who is gravely ill and deserves our thoughts and prayers.
 

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My mother, for whom I've been caregiver for the last 18 years, died last week of a brain lesion from a similar tumor.

I feel for Sen. Kennedy and his family. This kind of thing can go quickly unless nature is allowed to take its course.


I'm so terribly sorry you are going through that right now. We had a friend of the family diagnosed with an aggressive form of this 2 weeks ago. We still arent sure of her prognosis at this point. This article definitely hits home here too.
 

B_jacknapier

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also if your senator feels like a family member, then you are a prime example of how homosexuals are destroying the American idea of family


just kidding guys.
 

D_Fiona_Farvel

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I sincerely hate to lose any politician of his generation. The senate will be a lesser institution without his presence.

... and I feel I showed a great deal of restraint by holding off on making some sort of crack about Mary Jo Kopechne and/or Chappaquiddick.
Exactly. I am sure a few out there feel he has already lived far too long.
 

WifeOfBath

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All tasteless jokes aside, it's truly the end of an era, and I'm not so sure that the politicians coming up behind him are quite the same. He is the last and only Kennedy who was active during my lifetime, and even so the Kennedy legacy has continued to be a big part of American history.
 

B_boynextdoorkpt

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Regardless of what Sen. Kennedy has done or not done, he is still worked his entire life for the American people, especially the people of Massachusettes. It is very poor taste to make light of such a tragedy in someone's life. What every happened to sympathy?
 

D_Fiona_Farvel

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Regardless of what Sen. Kennedy has done or not done, he is still worked his entire life for the American people, especially the people of Massachusettes. It is very poor taste to make light of such a tragedy in someone's life. What every happened to sympathy?
Just because you feel a certain way or feel there's a level of propriety that should be honored does not mean others have to share your views.

I have symplathy, but I'll admit it may be limited due to my exposure to sick people. I feel for him because he was suddenly found to be ill, and that the disease he has been diagnosed with is painful and debilitating. I know it is a shock to him and his family, and I wish them well in this their time of need.

Having said that, he has had a long life. He has lived well. He has insurance and resources to battle the disease with few, if any, barriers. Not many have that priviledge, so while I feel for him and his loved ones and I wish them well - I know that the best resources in medicine will be put toward his care, and he will have access to treatments most do not, all without monetary burden or fighting for treatment with an insurance company as added stressors.
 

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I don't think the Kopechne family is shedding a tear over the news.
 

D_Gunther Snotpole

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It says something about how polarized the American political universe is, to see so many people saying poisonous things when they hear that the second longest serving American senator, still very much in the saddle, is probably fatally ill.
Like him or not, Edward Kennedy served the United States to the best of his ability for a very long time.
At this moment, can't there be a little respect?
Does it cost too much?