White House press secretary Tony Snow returned to work Monday, five weeks after exploratory surgery uncovered that his cancer had recurred.
The White House press corps welcomed Snow back with applause, and he thanked reporters for their well wishes and prayers.
{mosads}Snow, who said he is a “very lucky guy,” will start chemotherapy Friday to treat the cancer and said he also has “a little more recovering to do” following the surgery he underwent a month ago.
The White House press secretary told CNN that he is “glad to be back” and wants to use his position to give hope to other cancer survivors.
“You know what happens … the mere mention of cancer throws people into this absolute panic,” Snow said. “Twenty, 30 years ago it used to be that kind of condition. But it is unbelievable what medical researchers have been able to come up with in recent years, and conditions that used to be incurable are curable now; conditions that used to not be treatable are treatable today.”
Snow will receive chemotherapy every other week for four months. If the treatment is successful, he then will have a monthly “maintenance chemo just to make sure that we got the thing knocked out and put into remission.”