White House presidential spokesman Tony Snow’s cancer has returned. Worse yet, it has spread to his liver.
Snow, 51, had his colon removed in 2005 and underwent six months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with colon cancer. A small growth was discovered last year in his lower right pelvic area, and it was removed on Monday. Doctors determined that it was cancerous, and that his cancer had metastized, or spread, to his liver, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
She said Snow is resting comfortably after his surgery and has pledged to aggressively fight the disease with an as-yet-to-be-determined treatment course.
“He said he’s going to beat it again,” Perino said in an emotional morning briefing with White House reporters. “When I talked to him, he was in very good spirits.”
While some might say cancer in 2007 isn’t as bad as cancer in 1997, no cure remains for the disease. And I can’t even imagine the emotional toll that occurs when one believes their cancer has been removed only to find out later that it’s back with a vengeance. In that case it’s hard to know what kills some folks – the cancer or the accompanying depression.
Send a prayer up for Tony today.