Cancer-stricken Kennedy leaves hospital, goes sailing

Associated Press

Originally published 07:03 a.m., May 21, 2008
Updated 01:19 p.m., May 21, 2008

Photo by Bloomberg News

Edward Kennedy, U.S. senator from Massachusetts, left, leaves Massachusetts General Hospital accompanied by his wife Victoria Kennedy, right, and their two dogs in Boston this morning. Kennedy, 76, a Democrat, went to his home at Hyannis Port home a day after doctors said he has a cancerous brain tumor.

Photo by Associated Press

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), center, and his son Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), right, leave Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston this morning. Kennedy was diagnosed at the hospital with a malignant brain tumor.

BOSTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy gave a thumbs up to well-wishers and kisses to relatives as he walked out of the hospital today, a day after learning he has a cancerous brain tumor.

A square bandage at the back of his head marked the spot where doctors performed a biopsy Monday that led them to diagnose the Massachusetts Democrat with malignant glioma. Experts say such tumors are almost always fatal.

Kennedy's dogs, Sunny and Splash, met him at the hospital door.

Hospital workers and well-wishers greeted Kennedy with applause.

Before he and his wife, Vicki, got into a dark Chevrolet Suburban, he kissed his daughter, Kara, and his niece Caroline Kennedy, and embraced his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.

The senator departed with a wave as television news helicopters followed his 75-mile trip south to his Cape Cod home. Along the way, he could be seen waving to nearby motorists from the front passenger seat of his SUV. He took a walk on the beach with his two Portuguese Water Dogs as soon as he arrived.

"Good to be back home," he told waiting reporters before heading off for a sail on his sloop, "Mya." Doctors announced Kennedy "has recovered remarkably quickly" from the brain biopsy.

They said he will recuperate at his home over the Memorial Day weekend while awaiting further test results that will help determine his treatment plan.

"He's feeling well and eager to get started," said Dr. Lee Schwamm, a top neurologist at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary care physician.

The 76-year-old senator, the last son in a famed political family, was diagnosed with a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe — which helps govern sensation, movement and language — after suffering a seizure in his home Saturday morning. Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year.

"It's treatable but not curable. You can put it into remission for a while but it's not a curable tumor," said Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, a neuroncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Vicki Kennedy told friends the grim diagnosis was "a real curveball" that left the family stunned even as Kennedy joked and laughed with them. She expressed pride in how her husband was handling the news.

"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to friends.

"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote, referring to the annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.

The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving member of the Senate, wept as he prayed for "my dear, dear friend, dear friend, Ted Kennedy" during a speech on the Senate floor.

"Keep Ted here for us and for America," said the 90-year-old Byrd, who is in a wheelchair. He added: "Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and I miss you."

In a statement, President Bush saluted Kennedy as "a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit." He added: "We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."

Kennedy has been active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama.

"He fights for what he thinks is right. And we want to make sure that he's fighting this illness," Obama said Tuesday. "And it's our job now to support him in the way that he has supported us for so many years."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "Ted Kennedy's courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history. Our thoughts are with him and Vicki and we are praying for a quick and full recovery."

Kennedy has left his stamp on a raft of health care, pension and immigration legislation during four decades in the Senate. In 1980, Kennedy unsuccessfully challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Kennedy family has been struck by tragedy over and over.

Kennedy's eldest brother, Joseph, died in a World War II plane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

Ted Kennedy shocked the nation in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge to Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island and a young female campaign worker drowned. Kennedy, who did not call authorities until the next day, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month jail sentence.

Kennedy, the Senate's second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012.

Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.

• May 21, 2008

  10:32 a.m.

  RickyLee writes:

  (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

• May 21, 2008

  11:01 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  becca00 writes:

  @ RickyLee: Does your mom know you stayed home from kindergarten today?

• May 21, 2008

  11:04 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  HolierThanThou writes:

  You're a class act, RickyLee.

• May 21, 2008

  11:46 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Noia writes:

  Brain tumor? I was expecting to hear his liver had explode.

  I love to see karma at work. You know what they say about payback Teddy!

• May 21, 2008

  12:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  MTN_Frank writes:

  Dear Noia,
  So your are also saying that all the little childern who also have cancer deserve it? You are one cold human.

  Frank

• May 21, 2008

  12:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SPUD writes:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APx2YJ...

• May 21, 2008

  2:53 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  RickyLee writes:

  no, becca, but YOU know because you're still there.
  (after 8 years or so)

  so.....Ted won't be giving Hillary a ride home from the DNC?
  too bad

• May 21, 2008

  3:18 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Tbone writes:

  Devastating comeback, RickyLee.

  You could have saved some time, and just said "nuh-huh, YOU are!"

  Absolutely devastating.

  Well, I was going to say it would be 8 posts before someone said something negative about Sen. Kennedy. Evidently sticky ricky took the under.

• May 21, 2008

  3:45 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  HEARMEOUT writes:

  I hope he responds well with treatment. Poor guy..

• May 21, 2008

  4:40 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  KarlCheney writes:

  Interesting how many posts are removed from Kennedy stories. I guess there is no compassionate conservatives

• May 21, 2008

  5:04 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  bira44 writes:

  He can stay on earth as long as he likes. I just want to know who will be the first to meet him on the other side? For Teddy, it will kind of be like the Hotel California ... "This could be heaven or this could be hell." Of course it will depend on who is there to greet him: Rum-runner Joe or Run-off-the-road Mary Jo.

• May 21, 2008

  5:35 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  HOOK writes:

  Dear Noia,
  So your are also saying that all the little childern who also have cancer deserve it? You are one cold human.

  Frank

  Frank, ahhhh nevermind, I was going to respond to this but you just can not get through to people like Frank.

• May 22, 2008

  3:11 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Scott writes:

  KarlCheney,
  Hey! I'm a "compassionate conservative". I have all the compassion in the world for Mary Jo. Just not any for her murderer.
  Scott