US SENATOR AND former Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
80-year-old McCain had been absent from Washington DC in recent days after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour and blood clot from above his right eye last Friday.
The veteran Arizona senator’s absence had proven especially problematic for Republican lawmakers in recent days as they tried desperately to get some form of their Obamacare replacement bill through the Senate, a bid that has now ended in failure in McCain’s absence.
McCain’s tumour is known as a glioblastoma – a highly aggressive cancer that begins in the brain.
It had initially been reported that the surgery had been merely to remove the aforementioned blood clot, but in the intervening days rumours had abounded that McCain’s condition was more serious.
A statement from his office stated that he and his family are “reviewing further treatment options”.
“Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation,” the statement said.
The senator’s doctors say he is recovering from his surgery ‘amazingly well’ and his underlying health is excellent.
McCain has proven to be a rather moderate voice on the Republican side of Washington DC in the six months since President Donald Trump took office, and has frequently (along with fellow rebel senator Lindsey Graham) expressed criticism for Trump’s more extreme policies and his behaviour on social media.
Speaking in light of McCain’s diagnosis, Graham said that the disease “has never had a more worthy opponent”.
McCain ran for the US presidency against Democrat opponent Barack Obama in the 2008 US election, with controversial governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his running mate.
In the event, he won 173 electoral college votes versus Obama’s 365.
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