Senator John McCain is currently recovering after a craniotomy to remove a rapidly growing primary glioblastoma—aka brain cancer. Regardless of your political beliefs, it’s disheartening to hear that the senator is having some serious health issues.
According to the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA), a glioblastoma is an extremely fast growing tumor, which can grow on the brain tissue or the spinal cord. It’s no doubt that any diagnosis of brain tumor or brain cancer is scary, especially when the ABTA estimates that about 80,000 new cases of brain tumors will be diagnosed this year. Of those new cases, people with glioblastoma only have a 30 percent chance at a two-year survival rate.
Sen. McCain’s doctors at Mayo Clinic explained to CNN that they were able to remove the blood clot during his surgery. After the senator’s brain surgery, lab results were able to detect brain cancer from the blood clot that was successfully removed.
While the Mayo Clinic doctors were able to remove all of the blood clot, McCain might need additional treatment. Jeff Flake, the junior senator from Arizona, told The Chicago Tribune that he was able to call McCain, who explained that he was “feeling fine, but I might have some chemotherapy in my future.”
This isn’t the first time that McCain has battled cancer. In fact, he has had four melanomas removed in 1993, 2000, 2002 and 2008. While brain surgery is notably more invasive that removing lesions of melanoma, McCain is a fighter and we wish him a speedy recovery from his surgery.
While McCain recuperates from his surgery, many people are taking a trip down memory lane, remembering the senator's greatest moments—like when he defended Barack Obama in 2008 against racist conspiracy theories (even though he was running against him in the presidential campaign, because McCain is legit a great human being). McCain has contributed a lot to the United States, and it's great to see people across the political spectrum coming together to wish him a speedy recovery.