Word: mitterrand
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...what are the politics of prostate cancer? Other political leaders--France's Francois Mitterrand and Jordan's King Hussein, for example--have suffered from the disease, but none quite so publicly as Dole. He is honorary co-chairman of US TOO, a national support group for prostate-cancer survivors, and has sponsored prostate-cancer screenings at such improbable venues as the Kansas State Fair and the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston...
...however, Mitterrand's blood tests showed the cancer had started to grow again. Surgery was now unavoidable, and Mitterrand had to tell the public about his condition. According to Dr. Gubler, the French President was so sick during his last months in office that "he was no longer capable of carrying out his duties," a claim that Mitterrand's family and the politicians who worked with--and against--him deny. In any event, he turned over the keys of office to his successor, Jacques Chirac, last May. Finally, three Saturdays ago, according to the French newspaper Le Monde, he asked...
...question of how sick Mitterrand was, and when he learned about it, is now the center of a fierce political debate in France. Last week his former personal physician, Dr. Claude Gubler, published a book disclosing that Mitterrand had, despite promises to be candid about his health in office, kept the seriousness of his cancer secret from the public for more than a decade. Shortly after publication, a French court banned the book from sale...
...controversy also sheds new light on the advances in cancer treatments that make it possible for men like Mitterrand not only to live but also to function at a high level years after their disease is diagnosed. From the moment his cancer was detected in 1981, Mitterrand's doctors kept close tabs on his condition by monitoring the level of certain proteins, called tumor markers, that are produced by cancer cells. Within a month of his first treatments--with radiation and hormones--those levels had plummeted. Radiation killed much of the cancer, and the hormones slowed the growth of whatever...
...could be argued that Mitterrand was justified in keeping his condition secret. As long as his markers stayed low, the chances that he could work effectively remained high. Even advanced prostate cancer grows more slowly than other tumors and can often be held in check. By contrast, patients who have lung cancer that has spread to their bones usually die within six months...