Arizona senator: McCain still focused on healthcare legislation

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Thursday said fellow Arizona lawmaker Sen. John McCain (R) is still focused on healthcare legislation, despite a diagnosis of brain cancer.

“It was typical John McCain, just ready to get going on legislation and Senate work and, you know, this pesky cancer, we’ll deal with that,” Flake said on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”

Flake described a brief phone conversation with McCain on Wednesday evening during which his colleague casually mentioned his diagnosis before it became public.

{mosads}“Well, I was on the phone with him actually, yesterday, early evening, even before we knew the diagnosis. We talked for 10 minutes about what was going on in Congress,” Flake said.

“He wanted to know about the visit to the White House and healthcare discussions and Arizona’s position on that. Well into the conversation, I just asked him how he was doing and just almost in passing, ‘Well I’m doing okay but I have some chemotherapy to get through.’ And so I knew then that pathology had come back,” Flake continued.

McCain tweeted Thursday that he will be back in Congress soon.

I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support – unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I’ll be back soon, so stand-by!

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 20, 2017

Last week, doctors discovered the tumor after McCain underwent a minor procedure to remove a blood clot.

“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” his hospital said in a statement.

McCain has undergone a procedure to remove melanoma — a form of skin cancer — several times, most recently in 2002.