At the single most excruciating moment of life, when it’s time to decide whether to live or die, there can be intense pressure from family and friends. Given his importance to the political life of the country, you have to imagine Sen. John McCain has gone through more of this pressure than most people faced with choosing whether to continue fighting terminal illness.
Sen. John McCain’s family announced on Friday that he would stop treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer he was diagnosed with last year. In their statement, McCain’s family said the Arizona Senator has “surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict.”
Read More Making the decision about when to stop treatment is excruciating. “When you know that you’re losing the battle against cancer, you have to make sure you prepare for the worst,” says Dr. Raja Flores, the chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System. “The toughest thing that I’ve seen is when patients will continue to fight to the end because they feel that that’s what their family wants.” Dr. Flores says that people with terminal cancer, and their families, do at times need to be reminded that it’s OK to let go when you’ve done all you can do. Entering
palliative care means that the cancer is no longer being treated, but a care team will work to make the end of the patient’s life as painless and enjoyable as possible. Sen. McCain had been receiving treatment for his brain cancer since July 2017. The decision to stop comes after he has been absent from Washington for months. The McCain family highlighted the senator’s “usual strength of will” when announcing his decision to discontinue his cancer fight.
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