According to a Wired News article, former Texas Governor, Ann Richards (D, 1991-95), has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

Richard, 72, went to her doctor after returning from a trip to India to “address a lingering unpleasant feeling in her chest.”  Richard then went in for tests this past Monday (Mar 6), and received the diagnosis on Tuesday (Mar 7).  Richards will be undergoing treatment at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and is waiting to hear from the Center on how advanced the cancer is, and her chances of survival.

Richards was quoted in The Dallas Morning News as stating, “The really great news is that I have a very treatable kind of cancer.  They know what to do. So I’m really pretty sanguine (optimistic) about it.”

Unfortunately, however, the American Cancer Society does not show such optimistic numbers.  According to Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the Society’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in about 3,300 women this year, and around 3,000 of them will die.

The irony in that statement is that - eventually - all 3,300 of them will die.  Dr. Lichtenfeld’s comments, of course, related to the number that will die of the cancer (or complications relating to, thereof).  Dr. Lichtenfeld did not mention the expected life span of the 3,000.

Richards meets the standard risk factors for esophageal cancer, which include long-term heavy alcohol drinking and tobacco use.  Richards has acknowledged treatment for alcoholism (in 1980), and for once being a heavy smoker.

Technorati Tags: Ann Richards, Cancer, Esophageal Cancer

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