The news out of Boston is discouraging: Sen. Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor.
Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his 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. […]
His doctors said in a statement released to The Associated Press that he has had no further seizures, is in good spirits and is resting comfortably.
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 a starting 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.
This, obviously, was not the news we were hoping for. After early reports of a weekend stroke, we learned that Kennedy had suffered a seizure.
Reports do not yet indicate how long Kennedy will remain hospitalized.
A CBS News report goes into some additional detail.
Kennedy’s father-in-law told CBS station WBZ-TV on Monday that the senator had suffered two seizures before reaching the hospital. Only one has been reported by officials.
WBZ said Kennedy had the second seizure during the helicopter ride to Mass. General, according to father-in-law, Edmund Reggie.
Over the weekend, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., visited his colleague, but he declined public comment about his condition. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the leading Democratic presidential contender, told reporters he was surprised by Kennedy’s vigor during a phone call Saturday.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Kennedy’s voice “couldn’t have been stronger” when he called Sunday.
“My cell phone rang and I picked it up and here was this voice that sounded terribly familiar to me talking about how those nurses were picking on him up in that hospital. It had me laughing,” Dodd told reporters.
“His voice was robust and strong and full of that laughter we’ve all heard a million times. He sounded great.”
I obviously wish the senator and his family the very best at what must be a very painful time.