US News
Kennedy diagnosed with malignant brain tumor (2nd Roundup)
By DPA
May 20, 2008, 19:23 GMT

Washington - Longtime Democratic Senator Edward 'Ted' Kennedy has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and will likely undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment, his doctors revealed Tuesday.

Preliminary biopsy results showed the cause of the seizure he suffered over the weekend was a malignant glioma tumor in the left parietal lobe of the 76-year-old senator's brain, the doctors said.

'Decisions regarding the best course of treatment for Senator Kennedy will be determined after further testing and analysis,' the statement by doctors Lee Schwamm and Larry Ronan said while adding that he has not suffered from an additional seizure.

Kennedy was resting in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and was moving around and in good overall condition, the doctors said. Kennedy is currently the country's second-longest serving senator.

Kennedy's diagnosis sent shockwaves throughout the political establishment in Washington, with Republican and Democratic leaders paying tribute to his achievements and significance in American political life.

President George W Bush issued a statement saying he and his family were praying for his nemesis on Capitol Hill.

'Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit,' Bush said. 'Our thoughts are with Senator Kennedy and his family during this difficult period.'

Kennedy has served in the Senate for more than 45 years and is the last surviving political icon of the fabled family. He has endured the assassination of two of his older brothers, former president John Kennedy in 1963, and brother Robert in 1968 while he was campaigning for the White House. His oldest brother, Joseph, was killed in World War II.

Kennedy, a leftist in the Senate, has spent his career fighting poverty, supporting social programmes designed to help less fortunate Americans, civil rights and education. He vehemently opposed Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

Glioma affects the nervous system and seizures can be a sign of the disease. Doctors could attempt surgery to remove the cancer from his brain if it is determined operable, medical experts said in broadcast reports.

Kennedy was rushed to the hospital on Saturday after suffering a seizure after initial concerns the Massachusetts senator had suffered a stroke.

There had been speculation that Kennedy's condition was more serious than a seizure because of his length of stay in the hospital. The doctors said he will remain hospitalized for the next couple of days.

Kennedy has endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama, in an interview with CNN, said that without Kennedy's accomplishments he could not be in a position to become the first black president of the United States.

'I would not be siting here as a presidential candidate had it not been for some of the battles that Ted Kennedy has fought,' Obama said.

Kennedy early in his career resisted calls to run for the White House but finally decided to do so in 1980, when he unsuccessfully challenged sitting president Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination.

Kennedy has not gone without scandal. He has been haunted by the 1969 fatal auto accident in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts. After driving a car off a bridge and into a river, he fled the scene of the accident that left a female passenger dead. He later pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School.

He makes his home in Hyannisport, with his second wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and her children from a previous marriage, Curran and Caroline Raclin. He had three other children with his ex-wife Joan-Kara, Edward Jr and Patrick.

Senator John Kerry, Kennedy's junior in representing Massachusetts in the Senate and 2004 presidential candidate, said he visited Kennedy in the hospital and that he remained in good spirits.

'We're pulling for our pal, and I know that he is determined to fight this,' Kerry said.