Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Announces he Has ‘Very Aggressive’ Cancer
ANAPOLIS, Md., June 22 (UPI) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday he has been diagnosed with “very advanced and very aggressive” non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The Republican governor said that though his illness may cause him to miss a few meetings, he does not intend to step down from his position. He said Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford will fill in for him when needed throughout his 18-week treatment.
Doctors discovered Hogan’s cancer when he complained of an ache in his back and discovered a lump in his neck while shaving.
“I had a little bit of pain in my back,” he said. “I though it was a pulled muscle. It turned out to be a tumor. I still feel good.”
Hogan said the disease “responds very aggressively to chemotherapy treatment.
“There’s a strong chance of success.
“Most likely I’m going to lose my hair. I won’t have these beautiful grey locks,” he joked.
Lymphoma begins in the lymph system, which is part of the immune system. The National Cancer Institute says there’s a 70 percent chance of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma surviving five years.
There will be an estimated 19,790 deaths from the disease in 2015, which accounts for 3.4 percent of all cancer deaths. The NCI says an estimated 71,850 new cases of the cancer will be diagnosed in 2015, about 4.3 percent of all new cancer cases.
