Presidents past and present join others in offering support in an outpouring rarely seen in Washington

Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Vietnam prisoner of war and political maverick in Congress for more than three decades, has been diagnosed with an aggressive type of brain tumour.

The 80-year-old Arizona lawmaker has glioblastoma, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, where Sen. McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last Friday. He and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation. “Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” his office said in a statement late Wednesday.

Tough battle

According to the American Brain Tumor Association, more than 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same type of tumour that struck McCain’s close Democratic colleague in legislative battles, the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4%.

The Senator and chairman of the Armed Services Committee had been recovering at his Arizona home.

In a statement on Twitter, his daughter, Meghan McCain, spoke of the shock of the news and the anxiety over what happens next. “My love for my father is boundless and like any daughter I cannot and do not wish to be in a world without him. I have faith that those days remain far away,” she said. As word spread of his diagnosis, Presidents past and present along with Sen. McCain’s current and former Senate colleagues offered support in an outpouring rarely seen in Washington.

“Senator John McCain has always been a fighter. Melania and I send our thoughts and prayers to Senator McCain, Cindy, and their entire family. Get well soon,” President Donald Trump said.

Barack Obama, who dashed Sen. McCain’s dreams of the presidency, said in a tweet” “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

Politics aside, Sen. McCain and Bill Clinton developed a strong friendship, and the former President said” “As he’s shown his entire life, don’t bet against John McCain. Best wishes to him for a swift recovery.”