John McCain, the Arizona senator and former Republican presidential candidate, has been diagnosed with brain cancer.
A brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was removed from McCain along with a blood clot in a surgery at the Mayo Clinic on Friday, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
McCain’s office had only previously announced that the blood clot had been removed from above the 80-year-old’s left eye.
The Mayo Clinic said in a statement released by McCain’s office: “The senator and his family are reviewing further treatment options with his Mayo Clinic care team. Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. The senator’s doctors say he is recovering from his surgery ‘amazingly well’ and his underlying health is excellent.”
The surgery had forced McCain to stay in Arizona this week and miss votes in the Senate. It had led to a delay in the vote on the Senate Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was originally scheduled for Monday. Since the delay was announced, a sufficient number of Republican senators came forward to express their opposition to the bill and forced the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to shelve it and instead try to push a vote on a clean repeal of the ACA.
In a statement, the Arizona senator’s spokesperson said that “in the aftermath of his diagnosis, further consultations with [the] Mayo Clinic care team will indicate when he will return to the United States Senate”.
An extended absence would probably make it even more difficult for Republicans to repeal or replace the ACA, popularly known as Obamacare. Senate Republicans have a narrow 52-48 majority and, with the tie-breaking vote of Mike Pence, can only afford to lose two votes if McCain is present. His absence means that two Republican “no” votes would now sink any legislation if all 48 Democrats are unified in opposition.
McCain, who was re-elected to his sixth term in the Senate in 2016, was the Republican party’s presidential nominee in 2008 and finished second to George W Bush in the 2000 GOP presidential primary.
Prior to his career in politics, McCain served as an aviator in the US navy, and was held as prisoner of war for five and a half years during the Vietnam war. While being held captive by the North Vietnamese, McCain was repeatedly subjected to torture. He retired as a captain after earning a number of decorations including the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The Arizona senator’s illness sparked an outpouring of support from both sides of the aisle.
In a statement, Donald Trump said: “Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon.” Trump, whoset off a political firestorm in 2015 by saying McCain was “not a war hero”, said earlier in the week of the Arizona senator: “We hope John McCain gets better very soon because we miss him. He’s a crusty voice in Washington. Plus we need his vote. And he’ll be back.”
Barack Obama, against whom McCain ran in the 2008 presidential election, tweeted: “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”
The former vice-president Joe Biden, whose son died from brain cancer in 2015, has been friends with McCain for 40 years. “He’s gotten through so much difficulty with so much grace,” Biden tweeted. “He is strong – and he will beat this.”
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