Sen. John McCain’s cancer diagnosis draws well-wishes, support
PHOENIX — Arizona Sen. John McCain's diagnosis of brain cancer drew widespread well-wishes and support from people in the political world and beyond.
The news broke on Wednesday that McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer following the removal of a 2-inch blood clot in his skull.
Meghan McCain, the Senator's daughter and also a Fox News host, released a statement via Twitter:
"The new of my father's illness has affected every one of us in the McCain family. My grandmother, mother, brothers, sister, and I have all endured the shock of the news, and now we live with the anxiety about what comes next. It is an experience familiar to us, given my father's previous battle with cancer – and it is familiar to the countless American families whose loved ones are also stricken with the tragedy of disease and the inevitability of age. If we could ask anything of anyone now, it would be the prayers of those of you who understand this all too well. We would be so grateful for them.
It won't surprise you to learn that in all this, the one of us who is the most confident and calm is my father. He is the toughest person I know. The cruelest enemy could not break him. The aggressions of political life could not break him. The aggressions of political life could not bend him. So he is meeting this challenge as he has every other. Cancer may afflict him in many ways, but it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has.
My love for my father is boundless, and, like any daughter, I cannot and do not wish to be in a world without him. I have faith that those days remain far away. Yet even in this moment, my fears for him are overwhelmed by one thing above all: gratitude for our years together and the years still to come. He is a warrior at dusk, one of the greatest Americans of our age and the noteworthy heir to his father's and grandfather's name. But to me, he is something more. He is my strength, my example, my refuge, my confidante, my teacher, my rock, my hero – my dad."
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar:
"That is really sad," he said in an interview with KTAR News 92.3 FM's Realty Check with Darin Damme. "Here in the debate of health care, we actually see an incident like this. He has fought bravely in regards to cancer for melanoma before and this is heart-felt breaking news. But what I would hope is that that stalwartness that John McCain has always come to the table with, being that maverick and having a heart of solidarity, I only wish him the best. He's in our thoughts and prayers."