From Tennessee Politics Blog:
Fox News is reporting that rumored Presidential candidate and former Senator from TN Fred Thompson has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes. Thompson says his condition is already in remission. Thompson speaking on whether he will still run for President: “I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November.”
Thompson also posts on RedState, conjuring Edwards – Hotline says it’s a sign he’s going to run. According to Micky Kaus, the date for the announcement is May 4.
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I don’t think I could support a candidate with any kind of lymphoma. It can come back and kill so quickly.
Too bad. Thompson looked like an interesting candidate.
I just read on Yahoo, they said that the most common cause of death for people with his kind of cancer is “natural causes”.
http://news.yahoo.co…
5th paragraph
associated with old age.
like
cancer.
I guess technically cancer is a natural cause….but the article (if you read it) quotes as saying “dying of natural causes not associated with the illness”.
I agree, if this is true than he should not announce he is running.
My friend had it, was treated with chemo and has been in full remission for years. Her Dr. told her it isn’t the killer it used to be and is regularly treated successfully if found early enough.
He was the first cancer survior to run for president though
No, Tsongas had a very aggressive form of lymphoma. The type Thompson has is less harmful to the health than type 2 diabetes is. The main line of treatment for this particular form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma is usually to wait, and do nothing.
OC is right on this one, this type of lymphoma is pretty tame and common.
Isn’t this what he had?
this was all over the networks this morning. I first heard it on NPR, I think…
Thompson were a declared candidate wallowing in low digits for the Republican primary, I would question his motives.
he is after all, undeclared and running in the top three!
he’s just trying to get ahead of the story. I doubt too he’ll make the rounds and exploit his cancer like some candidates.
He’s already moving on to hitting the talk shows, talk radio, and is talking up his meeting next week with 40-60 Republicans from the House. His local Rep, Zach Wamp (What a name!) is organizing it.
He talked about the disease and apparently his form of lymphoma is very non-aggressive. His doctor told him that diabetes is worse.
He blogged it to RedState first – and his doctor wrote up the diagnosis and prognosis there. Then he went on Neal Cavuto (Fox) to explain why he had done this now. Since I see that many of you here tilt left and are afraid of getting “cooties” by watching Fox News, here’s the summary from what I saw on their website: basically Sen Thompson said that if he decides to run, this needs to be out in the open first so its not a distraction. And that the reaction to this would help him make his decision. So he was pretty straight forward about this being part of a political clearing of the decks.
I have the “Reader’s Digest” version on my FredBlog, which links to the original (if you dont want to hit Redstate, feel free to hit my blog below)
coloradoansforthompson.blogspot.com/2007/04/fred-thompson-on-his-lymphoma.html
In his own words:
… 2 1/2 years ago when, shortly after a routine physical, I was diagnosed with what the doctors call an indolent lymphoma. Of the 30-plus kinds of lymphoma this is a “good” kind, if there is such a thing.
I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. My life expectancy should not be affected. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future–and with no debilitating side effects.
I am one of the lucky ones.
…
From the Doctor:
In 2004, Senator Thompson was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma. Today, he is in remission from this, slow-growing disease. Doctors cannot currently detect the lymphoma by physical examinations or scans. Here are the facts:
WHAT IS IT?
Senator Thompson has an indolent form of lymphoma, one of more than 30 types of lymphoma.
Some lymphomas are very aggressive, but people with slow-growing types, like Senator Thompson’s, often dying from natural causes associated with old age, rather than from the disease.
Using a standard prognostic scoring system Senator Thompson has a favorable prognosis.
Senator Thompson has never been physically ill or had any symptoms from his lymphoma or had any side effects from the therapy.
TREATMENT
One treatment option for this type of lymphoma is simply to watch and wait. There are also new therapies, if and when treatment is indicated, which prolong survival compared to treatments used just 5 years ago.
Senator Thompson chose to receive such therapy (Rituxan), but he is no longer in treatment as he is in remission.
Bruce D. Cheson, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Head of Hematology
Division of Hematology/Oncology
The over/under on the announcement amongst “FredHeads” is May 16, right after one of the Republican state candidate debates to let them make their mistakes but steal their thunder the very next day if anyone did well.
A lot of folks are betting next week will be it. Sen Thompson has over 60 (almost 1/3) of the House republicans in a meeting on April 18, from which may come a huge number of endorsements, as well as staff and donor lists ready to go.
The announcement about the lymphoma today was very clearly (he said so himself) a preparatory step to setting up his candidacy. He jumps in, Romney will die off pretty quick in spite of his money, as will Duncan Hunter, and it takes all the oxygen out of the room for Newt. McCain may throw in the towel if he’s still stuck in the mod-low teens and having funding problems. Thompson would be the only candidate that would keep the Maverick form going third party. At that point, Rudy has to face down the conservative part of the Republican party for better or worse, and there’s simply no “there” there for Rudy.
Only 2 candidates Im sure will be completely unaffected by Thompson entering the race: My own congressman Tom Tancredo and his one-note campaign that’s bankrolled enough to last till the convention and get Tom his one delegate, and the weird paleo-libertarian internet cargo-cult of Ron Paul, who seem impervious to the real world in their ideology bubble.