About 1:30 this afternoon, I came across the news bulletin that Senator Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. It is very sad news. Not that I'm sitting at my desk weeping, but the critical illness or death of one of the icons of your youth changes your perspective and has left me feeling a little hollow. A little piece of the world as I've known it appears to be irrevocably changed.(I felt the same way when Ronald Reagan died. While I was no supporter of his, he was the first president who I was really aware of, and his death left me feeling that a little tie to my life growing up was gone.)
I've known three people who have suffered brain cancer and the two who developed it as adults suffered terribly before succumbing to the disease (the one who survived his fight was diagnosed and treated as a child). Based on what I have read this afternoon, the fact that the cancer was not discovered until after it had begun causing seizures is not good news at all.
Hopefully Senator Kennedy will make a full recovery and return to continue his work as one of the most accomplished Senators the nation has known.
UPDATED: Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia broke down this afternoon when speaking about Senator Kennedy:
Tags: Senator Massachusetts Ted Kennedy
Posts
