Thompson's Health (Hugh Hewitt's Obsession With This...)

The most comprehensive report on Fred Thompson's cancer I have seen is here. (HT: Politico.) Key graphs:

``The nature of the disease is that it tends to relapse,'' said David Fisher, a lymphoma specialist and assistant professor of medicine at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. ``How long one can live with the disease varies considerably.'' ...

Thompson's cancer is an uncommon form called nodal marginal zone lymphoma, which accounts for 2 percent to 4 percent of all cases, according to Owen O'Connor, chief of the lymphoma service at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and author of about 100 research papers on the disease....

``Because this is so rare -- there are about 1,500 cases per year in the U.S. -- it's hard to prognosticate,'' O'Connor said in an interview. ``Most of the statistics you see on the National Cancer Institute Web site are old data. It's very hard to reach broad generalizations.''
Thompson's doctor, Bruce Cheson, head of hematology and oncology at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, told CNN in April that his patient had no evidence of the disease after being treated and that many such patients ``can live a normal life span.''
``The indolent, or slow-growing lymphomas are very treatable, but rarely if ever curable,'' Cheson said in the April interview. ``Therefore, his likelihood of recurring is high, but this may not happen for a number of years.''
Cheson couldn't comment further because Thompson hasn't given permission for him to do so, Georgetown Medical School spokeswoman Marianne Worley said in a Sept. 4 interview. Thompson's campaign representatives didn't return phone calls seeking comment. ....

The textbook average life expectancy for all forms of non- Hodgkin's lymphoma is six to 12 years after diagnosis. Among patients diagnosed with Stage 1, or cancer that hasn't spread, the average 10-year survival rate is about 70 percent, Fisher said. For those diagnosed with extensive cancers, the 10-year survival rate is 36 percent. It is not known at what stage Thompson's cancer was diagnosed.

Why all the deflecting of this issue of Thompson's cancer?

It was the first thing Fred Thompson made public when he started his "testing the waters" phase.

Thompson thinks it is important and his supporters need a better response to the issue than try to tear down anybody who brings up the subject.

This issue will get A LOT of attention from the media and most assuredly the Democrats so there needs to be compelling responses and not just calling the questioner a "poopy head."

Obama is the one with the two year stint.

Fred was elected twice, once to fill the term of Algore in 1994, then a full term in 1996 for six years. He could have run one more term but didn’t because of Betsey and other things. He believes in term limits and took himself out of the picture, like George Washington did.

He was also a prosecutor and has done other work for the government. He’s been on a committee to advise the secretary of state until he started this campaign. He had a high security clearance. Plus working on the staff of the watergate committee. Worked on the John Roberts nomination. Worked as an unpaid staffer for several political campaigns. Founded a Young Republican group in his hometown.

Fred put his health issue out there first, because people wanted him to run. He didn’t think it was a problem, but practiced full disclosure on this so people could make up their own minds. I admire how he handled it.

If it was a problem, people could have brought it up before when he first disclosed. Some did, many did not.

It is a judgment call for everyone involved as many people go in remission, and often it never comes back. I have a dear friend who was a cancer patient and is doing well forty years later. You never know and hope for the best.

That said, some will use it against him no matter what. This has been discussed rather thoroughly. A person needs a little humor in this grim world.

Like it or not, on the subject of electability, Fred Thompson's health is a real issue and must be addressed seriously if he is to have any chance of winning the general election.

People know he battled cancer. Therefore, people are understandably concerned about his ability to serve out a four-year term.

Until voters are convinced his cancer is not an issue, it will remain an issue. His opponents—on both sides—will make sure it remains an issue.

The last thing we should want to see is for the so-called "11th Commandment" to be in force during the primaries, only to have our nominee's chances quickly go up in smoke in the general election because Republicans were "too polite" to bring up such issues when we had the chance.

Rather than excoriate any of our fellow lib-haters who would dare to bring up the "C" word and Sen. Thompson, I see this as an opportunity to deal with it now, while there's still plenty of time to find out which antidotes work and which do not.

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