California Rep. Tom Lantos has Cancer, will Retire at End of Year
[Guest post by DRJ]
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Representative Tom Lantos has cancer and will retire at the end of the year:
“San Mateo Rep. Tom Lantos, the 79-year-old Holocaust survivor who became House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman last year, announced today he will retire at the end of this year after learning that he has cancer of the esophagus.
The 27-year veteran lawmaker first heard the diagnosis after routine medical tests the week before Congress recessed for the holiday break in December, according to his spokeswoman. After discussions with doctors and his family over the last two weeks, Lantos decided to announce his retirement.
“In view of this development and the treatment it will require, I will not seek re-election,” Lantos said in a statement.
The announcement was a surprise for Lantos, who appeared to be invigorated by his new role as a committee chairman after 12 years as a member of the minority in the House. As recently as last year he was boasting to reporters that he was “in the midpoint of my congressional career.”
But his decision was made after he learned about the seriousness of the cancer, which affects the tube carrying food and liquids between the mouth and stomach. He is likely to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment.”
It’s a shame to hear that anyone gets a serious illness. I assume he will continue in Congress through December and that’s a long time to work while receiving what I assume will be aggressive cancer treatment. But he’s obviously strong-willed and I like his attitude:
“Lantos, in his own statement, said he felt fortunate despite his diagnosis.
“It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress,” he said. “I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”
Best wishes to Rep. Lantos. I hope the Bay Area elects someone with as much character as he has.
— DRJ
God Bless him, his family…may his fight be long…very long….
reff (99666d) — 1/2/2008 @ 5:12 pmEsophageal cancer is fast. I wish him well.
nk (5221ab) — 1/2/2008 @ 5:26 pmWhile I wish him the best of health, I suspect that he won’t last that long. Esophageal cancer is a nasty one and a truly awful way to die. Cancer sucks, and this one really sucks. Perhaps they’ve detected this early enough to do something about it. I’d love to be wrong here.
Pablo (99243e) — 1/2/2008 @ 5:26 pmThat is a shame, Lantos was a Democrat that I admired. I wish him well with his battle. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to lose him in Congress as he was a leader in keeping the Democrat caucus from going completely nutty on Israel.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/2/2008 @ 5:39 pmLantos is one of the few rational voices with the Dem caucus on international affairs. I hate to think what his replacement will be like (an amalgam of the worst aspects of Pelosi, Boxer, Dellums, etc. probably).
Another Drew (8018ee) — 1/2/2008 @ 5:46 pmLantos like Reid, Pelosi, Boxer,Wexler, Murtha, Schumer, Jefferson et al put party before country. When judgement day comes for them hopefully the replacements will be more worthy.
rab (7a9e13) — 1/2/2008 @ 6:25 pmGood luck to Lantos and his family on his medical treatment.
Can not agree enough on his party above all actions. He’s voiced some particular despicable comments against this nation giving comfort to its enemies at home and abroad.
Maybe he’ll have time to go visit his pals in Nicaragua. And I hear Cuba is a fine place for an elitists’ medical care.
RW (536f3e) — 1/2/2008 @ 6:46 pmLantos was my Congressman until very recently (when I moved out of the district). I will be sorry to see him go.
My guess is that Jackie Speier will replace him — she’d been gearing up to run against him, and she’s got enough name recognition that she ought to be able to clear the field.
aphrael (db0b5a) — 1/2/2008 @ 6:51 pmJackie Speier will be a downgrade: morally, intellectually, and ethically. I had admiration for most of Lantos’s positions, and that’s better than I can say for most Donks
Frank G (1b73c2) — 1/2/2008 @ 7:36 pmMy father died as a result of esophageal cancer. It has a very low survival rate. Usually by the time the symptoms appear the cancer has progressed to an advanced stage. The most aggresive treatment is not radiation and chemo. The most agressive is an operation that removes most of the esophagus and is either proceeded or followed by chemo and radiation. My dad had the operation and follow up treatment but his advanced age in his early 70s made him a poor candidate. 79 may be too old. Thank God for the feeding tube, methadone, fentanyl patches and at the end morphine that hospice was able to provide. It was 14 months from diagnosis to death. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
phaedruscj (5a34cd) — 1/2/2008 @ 9:08 pmGod bless him.
But congressionally, this is addition by subtraction.
Ed (fa0851) — 1/3/2008 @ 12:24 amSucks that he has Cancer, great that he’s retiring.
thebronze (3af16b) — 1/3/2008 @ 7:39 amI know this is late to be posting, but it a reminder to take heartburn and acid reflux seriously. I was receiving radiation treatment and met a man who also developed this disease at a younger age. The doctors said reflux was the culprit.
rhodeymark (3395ea) — 1/3/2008 @ 8:06 amwhich is another reason to avoid “fire in the belly”.
rhodeymark (3395ea) — 1/3/2008 @ 8:08 amCongressman Lantos:
I just heard of your medical diagnosis and wanted to reach out to you as a former Esophageal Cancer patient and current three year survivor. My wife and I want to wish you a good fight and a speedy recovery.
This is a difficult and fearful time for you and your family, but do not think this disease a death sentence. Be aggressive with your treatment and positive with your attitude and you can beat back “the beast.” I need not tell you how to do this as a holocaust survivor.
In any case, you may wish to seek out the opinion of my crack medical team at the Jay Monahan Center in NY, headed by Dr. Mark Pochapin and featuring one of the nations’s best EC surgeon’s Dr. Nassar Altorki of Weil Cornell – New York Presbyterian. We can’t praise these Drs enough for the treatment, surgery and care I received that ultimately saved my life. My oncologist was Dr. Allyson Ocean, by the way. Top notch.
In addition, there is an online support group for EC at http://www.kathyscafe.com and this is connected with the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Assocition, a group that I was a trustee for.
My struggle with cancer returned me to elected office as a town Councilman (Freehold Borough, NJ). My fight was so inspirational that our Democratic Mayor reached across the aisle and returned a former GOP Councilman to the seat I vacated seven years earlier. You, too, can return to political office and do good for EC awareness, while you benefit your constituency in other ways. Please feel free to contact me, if you need any support in battling this difficult but beatable disease.
God Bless You.
Marc LeVine
Marc LeVine (fd52a8) — 1/3/2008 @ 9:29 amFreehold, NJ
This post strikes just the tone I would have: I often disagreed with Lantos, probably usually did, particularly on economic/ regulatory issues. His eccentricities earned him the nickname Tom “The Planet” Lantos among political junkies in my neck of the woods when I was in college.
But I admired his staunch support for Israel and his unwillingness to suffer the far-far left fools (Code Pink, MoveOn, et al.) gladly. A life well lived.
Mitch (890cbf) — 1/3/2008 @ 11:35 amokay, if Lantos is 79, he would have been born in either 1928 or 1929. If you calculate WW2 started in 1939/40. (Invasion of poland) he would have been 11 or 12 at the beginining of the war, and 16/17 at the end. I’d like to know where and when he did his anti-Nazi fighting?
Christopher (c9a543) — 1/16/2008 @ 1:19 pmplease contact chris_ponko@yahoo.com
thank you! christopher
Save it for your next Bund meeting, Christopher.
nk (95162d) — 1/16/2008 @ 1:54 pmI thought Christopher was banned?
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/16/2008 @ 2:08 pmAs an update, my prediction appears correct; the only likely opposition to Speier, Leland Yee, announced Monday that he’s not running.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 1/16/2008 @ 3:05 pmThat would be Christoph.
Xrlq (b65a72) — 1/16/2008 @ 5:04 pmI wonder who will replace Lantos. Hopefully the era of Ro Khanna has arrived!
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