John McCain’s death from brain cancer at age 81 came exactly nine years after the death of Ted Kennedy – and both longtime U.S. senators died from the same type of brain cancer. McCain, R-Ariz., had been battling the illness for just over a year while Kennedy, D-Mass., died at age 77, 13 months after his diagnosis, the Arizona Republic reported. Both succumbed to glioblastoma, which affects roughly 10,000 Americans a year and is described by doctors as "highly malignant."