Harry Reid. Photo: David Becker/Getty Images
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the Washington Post in an interview on Thursday that he is in "complete remission" after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2018.
Why it matters: Prior to undergoing an experimental treatment, the 80-year-old admitted that his prognosis was bleak and even told the New York Times in an interview published in January 2019, "As soon as you discover you have something on your pancreas, you’re dead."
- Reid was one of four people who joined UCLA cancer specialist Patrick Soon-Shiong's clinical study for cancer patients who had essentially run out of options, according to the Post.
- Soon-Shiong credits the treatment regimen Reid underwent with saving his life: “Consider the senator the first astronaut to the new universe."
What they're saying: “I wasn’t willing to acknowledge that I was about to get hit by the Grim Reaper," Reid told the Post about his experience suffering from cancer last summer. "There’s no comparison to how I feel — I feel good. I’m alive. ... The simple fact that you have cancer doesn’t mean you quit.”
Editor’s note: This post has been corrected to show that Reid was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2018 (not November 2018).