Senator John McCain is a fighter

Last week it was announced that Sen. John McCain had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer. The senator has had several bouts of fighting skin cancer, but this is a new and probable fight to the death with an incurable form of cancer.

Researchers have worked for decades to discover a weakness in this type of cancer. There have been successful attempts at delaying the progress of this deadly cancer but each success has been countered with its regrowth. My family can attest to the fact that researchers have been coming up with new chemotherapy and radiation therapy to defeat glioblastoma for 20 years. Every apparent success has been countered by glioblastoma which can regenerate in a different part of the brain if the treatment fails to kill every single cell.

My 12-year-old son, Justin, was diagnosed with glioblastoma in April 1996, and the medical researchers at St, Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis tried surgery and then chemotherapy and then new radiation methods in the battle against Justin's cancer. When the cancer burst forth in new brain locations, chemotherapy trials kept the fight going, but to no avail. Justin died on Feb.1, 1997. My family knows well what Sen. McCain's family may face, and we know how hard it can be to hold on to hope as each treatment is begun.

In Sen. McCain, glioblastoma has met possibly its toughest opponent. This man survived six years of cruel imprisonment as a prisoner of war when his aircraft was shot down during the Vietnam War. The serious injuries he suffered when shot down were not enough to cause him to give up. He refused early release choosing to stay with his comrades and deny his captor's their propaganda value. He has been a principled senator who has fought for and stood by his convictions.

I do not agree with every political position he has held but Sen. McCain has in his life demonstrated the courage and principles of an American hero regardless of what President Trump has said. John McCain is a better man than most of his critics.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.