Senator Edward Kennedy

Sen. Kennedy, 76, diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor
By GLEN JOHNSON • Associated Press • May 20, 2008

A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics’ most enduring figures.

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.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

“I’m really sad,” former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said when told in a Senate hallway about Kennedy’s condition. “He’s the one politician who brings tears to my eyes when he speaks.”

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

“He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital,” said a joint statement issued by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy’s primary care physician.

The doctors said Kennedy will remain in the hospital “for the next couple of days according to routine protocol.”

“He remains in good spirits and full of energy,” they said.

Kennedy’s wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

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.

Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash. President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and his brother Robert was assassinated in 1968.

Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for the Illinois senator in February, and most recently another in April.

Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts and the Senate’s second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012.


Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after the vacancy occurs.

Why you have to live everyday to the fullest!


Tomorrow is not guaranteed

Maybe if we didn't spend billions of dollars on war; we could find cures and treatments for life threatening ailments.



But that is another story!

gs78 wrote:

Why you have to live everyday to the fullest!


Tomorrow is not guaranteed

death sure doesn't give a shit who you are!!!

Exactly

laprimamirala wrote:

gs78 wrote:

Why you have to live everyday to the fullest!


Tomorrow is not guaranteed

death sure doesn't give a shit who you are!!!

Don't know why I'm laughing, but that was kinda funny. Poor Ted.

That's why I drink and eat like I do!

He appeared before the Senate today for the first time before returning to Boston for treatment. He had brain surgery on June 2.

I just read up on his wikipedia article and he seems like my kind of senator. I agree with practically every policy he has.

catbox_9 wrote:

He appeared before the Senate today for the first time before returning to Boston for treatment. He had brain surgery on June 2.

I just read up on his wikipedia article and he seems like my kind of senator. I agree with practically every policy he has.

Yep, you are a California liberal!

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Other than meet Magglio Ordonez, I would have to say.... go on a cruise down the Amazon.

I would need to do more than just meet him!

laprimamirala wrote:

I would need to do more than just meet him!

would be great if he was scanning for me!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Yep, you are a California liberal!

Yep He's Massachusettian though. I guess we're all the same

Actually, I can't be 100% sure I agree with everything as I didn't read every issue on wikipedia. Namely, I only glanced at his Northern Ireland policy and didn't really pay attention to it. I'm in favor of a unification of N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland but don't recall if that's his idea. As an American, that issue isn't all that important and if he were running for President that issue wouldn't even matter. Still, I'm ever-so-slightly Irish so I care ever-so-slightly.

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Quit school!

catbox_9 wrote:

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Quit school!

Good answer!

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Other than meet Magglio Ordonez, I would have to say.... go on a cruise down the Amazon.

:pudge:

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Be able to sit down and talk to all the Tigers on an off-season, around the world cruise! (of course with our own section of the cruise ship )

heck, no one else on board except the crew!

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Go to at least one game at Comerica and make sure I said everything to everyone that I've always meant to.

laprimamirala wrote:

heck, no one else on board except the crew!

And the DTF1 family members.

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

heck, no one else on board except the crew!

And the DTF1 family members.

and s!!!!

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Other than meet Magglio Ordonez, I would have to say.... go on a cruise down the Amazon.

hmmm. Go to Florida for 2 days when Miller and Scotty O are pitching back to back and of course meet them (duh :haha: ), then I'd have to go to Boston on St. Paddy's Day to see and meet DKM. THEN I would have to take a trip to Ireland. Not asking for much huh?

Not going on the Tiger - DTF1 Family world cruise Soul? We can make a stop in Ireland!

I'm ready! when do we leave?

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Not going on the Tiger - DTF1 Family world cruise Soul? We can make a stop in Ireland!

Well then yes! Sign me up

SoulRat wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Not going on the Tiger - DTF1 Family world cruise Soul? We can make a stop in Ireland!

Well then yes! Sign me up

SoulRat and Lap are booked!

Have Fun Ladies!


If i had 6 months to live, I be drunk off my ass everyday

SoulRat wrote:

Trinita wrote:

OK, here's the question... if you were diagnosed with a short amount of time to live, what would you want to do before you died???

Other than meet Magglio Ordonez, I would have to say.... go on a cruise down the Amazon.

hmmm. Go to Florida for 2 days when Miller and Scotty O are pitching back to back and of course meet them (duh :haha: ), then I'd have to go to Boston on St. Paddy's Day to see and meet DKM. THEN I would have to take a trip to Ireland. Not asking for much huh?

I've already done that! Well not the Florida, Miller, Scotty O, Boston, or DKM part. I have been to Ireland though!

I guess I'd go to Scotland...

Or maybe not...

My sister went there to study abroad and mentioned that we were from the Douglas clan, which was apparently some kind of mistake. People hate the Douglas clan for some reason... I mean, they burned villages and stole women and stuff, but that's no reason to HATE them right?