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The former Kansas Senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate, Bob Dole, announced on Thursday that he is suffering from advanced stage four lung cancer.
“I was recently diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. My first treatment will begin Monday,” Dole, 97, said in a statement on Twitter.
“While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own.”
Bob Dole served as a senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996 and as Senate majority and minority leader. He was a Republican presidential candidate in 1996, when Bill Clinton came out on top.
Before coming to the Senate, he was a representative for the 81st district covering the western half of the state. He was also the running mate of then-Republican candidate Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.
During Dole’s time in the Army in World War II, he received the Congressional Gold Medal and two Purple Hearts for a wartime injury that permanently damaged both arms. His recovery was delayed due to blood clots and life-threatening infection, according to his autobiography One Soldier’s Story: A Memoir, which chronicles his wartime experiences.
In 2019, Congress voted to promote him to honorary colonel for his actions during the war.
