Former Rep. Paul Mitchell announces renal cancer diagnosis

Former Rep. Paul Mitchell (I-Mich.) on Tuesday revealed that he was recently diagnosed with stage 4 renal cancer and underwent surgery to remove a mass and blood clot near his heart.

Mitchell, who announced he was retiring from public life in December, said he received the cancer diagnosis about three weeks ago.

“I was having some bad back issues,” Mitchell said in an interview with NJR-AM New Talk 760, according to The Detroit News. “But it wasn’t. It was stage 4 cancer. Pretty shocking to get that kind of diagnosis.”

“I was probably only a few days away from dying. I knew I was sick, but I didn’t realize how serious the problem was,” he added.

The former congressman said he underwent surgery two weeks ago to remove a mass and blood clot near his heart, according to The Detroit News.

A few days after his surgery, however, Mitchell said he had a bad reaction to a drug, which put him into a coma for a day and a half, the newspaper reported.

Mitchell said he will now undergo physical therapy and is scheduled to begin immunotherapy in the next few weeks, according to The Detroit News.

“They give me a 50/50 chance of getting into remission. … But either way, I’m going to go down swinging,” he told the radio station, according to The Detroit News.

Mitchell made headlines in December when he announced he was leaving the Republican Party, citing then-President Trump’s actions following the November election as the catalyst behind his change.

Mitchell announced in July 2019 that he would not seek reelection and squashed rumors that he may launch a bid for governor of Michigan or any other office in December when he said he was retiring from public life.