The cancer that claimed White House Press Secretary Tony Snow’s colon in 2005 has spread to his liver, sidelining President Bush’s primary spokesman less than a year after he took the job.
“We need to pray for him and for his family,” President Bush told reporters in the Rose Garden. “My message to Tony is: Stay strong; a lot of people love you and care for you and will pray for you. And we’re hoping for all the best.”
Snow underwent surgery on Monday for a small growth that doctors had found in his lower abdomen. Although presurgery blood tests had indicated the growth was benign, the operation revealed it was malignant.
“It had spread to the liver, and there has been some metastases,” Snow said, according to his top deputy, Dana Perino, who spoke with Snow Tuesday morning.
Medical experts said Snow has an uphill battle because the cancer has spread from one organ to another.
“The survival rate is somewhere on the order of 30 to 40 percent,” said Dan Laheru, assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “If you time this right, give them up–front chemotherapy and then do a local aggressive approach such as surgery, you can still cure a number of these patients.”
Last week, Snow became emotional while discussing another high-profile figure whose cancer has returned — Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards. She has encouraged her husband to proceed with the campaign.
“The reason I got choked up with Elizabeth Edwards,” Snow said, “is she is doing a wonderful thing.”
“The biggest problem you have a lot of times with cancer is just flat-out fear,” he said. “Once you decide that you’re going to embrace life, you become a much better patient.”
Snow took over as press secretary last year as part of a staff shakeup aimed at breathing new life into Bush’s second term. During his first press briefing, he became choked up when a reporter asked about his cancer.
“I lost a mother to cancer when I was 17,” he explained. “Same type, colon cancer. And what has happened in the field of cancer since then is a miracle.”
Snow suggested the trauma of cancer had helped him grow as a person.
“It’s going to sound stupid, and I’ll be personal here, but just having gone through this last year,” he said, “was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
