http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_re_us/kennedy
Senator Edward Kennedy has a cancerous brain tumor. The tumor caused the seizure Kennedy suffered over the weekend:
Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma.
His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.
[. . .]
Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It's a starting diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.
Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the senator and his family.
UPDATE: Doris Kearns Goodwin provides some perspective on Senator Kennedy in the following video:
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