Ronald Reagan

Cancer Type – Colon

Bio – Ronald Reagan – We followed him from Hollywood Star to California Governor to President, but did you know he had skin and colon cancer?

Short Story – He served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981-1989, after a career in Hollywood. During his time in the oval office he had a skin cancer lump removed from his nose (1987), which returned six months later. It was removed again, and all of his cancer was gone.

What most don’t realize about Ronald Reagan, is during his presidency he battled colon cancer. A routine screening found a small polyp in 1984, however this was ruled benign. In March of 1985 another polyp. The polyp was removed in an endoscopic procedure and colonoscopy revealed a second, more invasive tumor known as villous adenoma.

Two feet of the right side of Reagan’s colon was moved. The good news, it had not spread, however it had invaded the muscle of the colon but was confined to the bowel wall, something physicians refer to as “Duke’s B.”

The President chose not to undergo chemotherapy treatments, even though doctors warned cancer cells could spread to other organs. Instead he followed his wife Nancy’s request to undergo laetrile treatments. For thirteen months, President Reagan received daily IV laetrile treatments in the Oval Office.

The conservative leader was a colon cancer survivor, although he lost his daughter Maureen to brain cancer in 2001. In his late years he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Before his passing in 2004, he wrote an optimistic note , “”I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Image Credits – See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons