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Ted Kennedy suffering brain tumour

May 21 2008

Ted Kennedy suffering brain tumour

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By Agencies

Kennedy was airlifted to hospital on Saturday after suffering two seizures [Reuters]

Edward Kennedy, the US senator for the state of Massachusetts, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour, his doctors have said.

Tests conducted after the Democratic senator, the brother of former US president John F Kennedy, suffered seizures over the weekend showed a malignant tumour in the left part of his brain, they said.

Kennedy, 76, was airlifted from his home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to a hospital in the city of Boston on Saturday after falling ill.

His doctors said in a statement released to the AP news agency that he has had no further seizures and is resting comfortably.

The senator is expected to be treated with combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy.

Decisions regarding specific treatments would be made "after further testing and analysis," doctors said.

The diagnosis comes six months after the senator had surgery to clear a blockage in a major neck artery, a common procedure to prevent a stroke.

George Bush, the US president, released a statement on Tuesday praising Kennedy as a man of "tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit" and said he and his wife Laura's thoughts "are with Senator Kennedy and his family during this difficult period."

Political dynasty

First elected to the US senate in 1962, Kennedy is the second longest-serving senator after Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980, but lost the race to incumbent president, Jimmy Carter.

The only surviving brother of John F Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas, Kennedy is a well-known supporter of liberal causes and endorsed Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful.

His brother Robert Kennedy was also assassinated in 1968 shortly after he announced his bid for the US presidency and his eldest brother, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, was killed in World War II.