Senator John McCain Discontinuing Medical Treatment
ARIZONA (CBSDFW.COM) - The family of John McCain issued a statement today saying the Arizona Senator has chosen to discontinue medical treatment for cancer.
The statement said, in part -
"John has surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict. With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment."
Last year McCain was diagnosed with what the family called an "aggressive" glioblastoma -- a form of brain cancer. After the diagnosis he underwent surgery to remove a 2-inch blood clot in his brain.
After the operation, McCain returned to Washington, entering the Senate to a bipartisan standing ovation and later casting a deciding vote against the Republican health care bill. "I will not vote for this bill as it is today," he said.
McCain, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, is in his sixth Senate term representing Arizona. The 81-year-old's condition worsened last fall and he has been away from Washington, D.C. since December.
The Senator's wife, Cindy McCain, posted the family statement on Twitter, and also professed her love for her husband and gratefulness to his caregivers.
As a Navy pilot, McCain lived through a July 1967 fire that killed 134 sailors aboard an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. Just months later, his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi. He spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.
