Kennedy has brain tumor

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:52

Sen. Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor, doctors treating him at Massachusetts General Hospital said today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the 76-year-old Democrat’s “fighting spirit will hold him in good stead.”

Kennedy, 76, was hospitalized Saturday morning after suffering a seizure at his family’s compound at Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

“Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe,” according to a statement from the doctors treating the senator.

The usual course of treatment for Kennedy’s type of tumor includes radiation and chemotherapy, said a statement from Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, primary care physician at the hospital.

Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962. He is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is known as a liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave and the minimum wage.

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