Kennedy Having Brain Surgery This Morning

God be With You, Senator Kennedy!

Senator Edward M. Kennedy is undergoing surgery for his malignant brain tumor at Duke University this morning, his office announced today.

The surgery was to begin about 9 a.m. and was expected to last approximately six hours.

In a statement released shortly before 6:30 a.m., Kennedy said he would be operated on by Dr. Allan Friedman at the Duke University Medical Center and expects to recuperate there for about a week.

In the weeks and months after the surgery, Kennedy will begin a regimen of radiation and chemotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, according to the statement.

Kennedy sailed in Hyannis Port Sunday morning, then flew to North Carolina with his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Sunday afternoon. He was admitted to the hospital after his arrival.

The surgery follows a meeting at Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday, during which cancer experts from around the country discussed his course of treatment. At that meeting, Kennedy's own doctors were joined by doctors from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as Friedman himself, according to a Kennedy intimate. At the end of the meeting, there was near unanimous agreement that he would have surgery at Duke, the confidant said.

The surgery comes as something of a surprise because, after the initial diagnosis was made nearly two weeks ago, Kennedy's doctors did not mention surgery as a treatment option. Rather, they limited their focus to radiation and chemotherapy, and later, Kennedy associates hinted that he would seek experimental drug treatments.

Dr. Allan Friedman

The surgery is considered the most aggressive approach he could take in addressing his malignant brain tumor.

Medical center officials would not confirm by mid-morning whether the surgery was under way or release any other information, said Lynn Garner, assistant to center spokesman Doug Stokke.

Dr. Friedman, neurosurgeon-in-Chief at Duke University Hospital, is a renowned tumor and vascular neurosurgeon, according to the university website. He is responsible for more than 90 percent of all tumor resections and biopsies conducted at Duke.

"Malignant brain tumors have ruined the lives of many healthy, vibrant members of our society. We are translating research into successful new treatments —the odds are in our favor for major achievement and long-term answers," Friedman says in a statement posted with his profile.

Kennedy, in a brief but upbeat statement, signaled that he would wait until all treatments were concluded before returning to Washington and the floor of the Senate. That return won't likely take place until September, after the Senate returns from its summer recess.

"After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president," he said in the statement.

Before leaving for North Carolina, Kennedy telephoned Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both to tell him of his plans and to highlight two significant pieces of legislation that Kennedy has in the works: higher education reauthorization and mental health parity, Kennedy aides said. The senator also called Senators Christopher Dodd and Barbara Mikulski to ask their help in shepherding the bills through their respective conference committees.

Kennedy is joined in North Carolina by his wife, his son Patrick, and his sister Jean.

US Representative William D. Delahunt, a colleague of Patrick's in the Congress and a long-time family friend, was buoyed by Kennedy's decision to try surgery.

"Obviously, my prayers are with him,'' the Quincy Democrat said in a telephone interview this morning. "The fact that it is operable is a sign of real hope.''

Delahunt said he was confident that Kennedy and especially his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, completely researched the options before making the choice that they did.

"I think it is a positive sign in the sense that they feel the cancer can be removed and that the senator can go and continue to be the force that he is in terms of the political life of the country,'' he said.

"I know Vicki Kennedy. I know she has done her research in great depth. ... Clearly, it's a decision that I think was made after careful consideration and after consulting with the very best in the medical profession with a particular focus on tumors, malignant tumors," Delahunt said.

Kennedy's doctors revealed May 20 that he had been diagnosed with the tumor, saying tests had identified a cancerous mass on the top left portion of his brain as the cause of a seizure he had suffered three days before. His prognosis was seen as uncertain at best.

But a day after his diagnosis, Kennedy walked out of the hospital, days earlier than scheduled, greeting well-wishers outside his family compound on Cape Cod with a smile, a wave, and a thumbs-up -- and immediately went sailing on Nantucket Sound.

Kennedy, 76, first elected to the Senate in 1962 to the seat vacated by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, has sponsored more than 2,500 bills. A liberal icon, he has made a career of advocating for the less fortunate.

The Globe reported this morning that Kennedy had turned to one of his most trusted former aides, Dr. Lawrence C. Horowitz as he crafted his strategy to battle cancer and that Horowitz and the Kennedys were looking at Duke University Medical Center.

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