Senator John McCain to Discontinue Treatment for Brain Cancer

After battling an aggressive form of brain cancer for over a year, Sen. John McCain announced Friday that he is discontinuing treatment for the disease.

While McCain, who turns 82 on Aug. 29, said that he has “surpassed expectations for survival” since his glioblastoma diagnosis last July, “the progress of the disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict.”

“With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment,” read a statement from McCain’s family. “Our family is immensely grateful for the support and kindness of all his caregivers over the last year, and for the continuing outpouring of concern and affection from John’s many friends and associates, and the many thousands of people who are keeping him in their prayers. God bless and thank you all.”

McCain’s daughter, The View co-host Meghan McCain, wrote on Twitter with a copy of the announcement that she and the rest of their family are grateful for “all the love and generosity” shown to them during McCain’s illness.

“My family is deeply appreciative of all the love and generosity you have shown us during this past year. Thank you for all your continued support and prayers. We could not have made it this far without you – you’ve given us strength to carry on,” Meghan McCain wrote Friday morning.

McCain has continued his Senate duties as much he could from his family home in northern Arizona, more than 2,000 miles away from Washington, D.C. He occasionally weighs in on policy and media reports via social media, has issued official written statements as he deems necessary, and receives staff briefings, USA TODAY reports. But he cannot cast Senate votes by proxy or in absentia.

In May, McCain’s family members and politicians on both sides of the aisle came to the Republican Arizona senator’s defense after White House aide Kelly Sadler joked that McCain’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s CIA director nominee “doesn’t matter — he’s dying anyway.”

McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, tweeted at Sadler after the report containing her quote surfaced. “May I remind you my husband has a family,” she tweeted, adding that he has seven children and five grandchildren.

Former Vice President Joe Biden released a statement blasting Sadler as well.

“People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration. It happened yesterday,” Biden said. “John McCain is a genuine hero — a man of valor whose sacrifices for his country are immeasurable. As he fights for [h]is life, he deserves better — so much better.”

Former president Bill Clinton called McCain “one of the most remarkable patriots our country ever produced,” adding, “I love the guy.”

Meghan McCain slammed Sadler on The View after asking viewers not to “feel bad” for her or her family as a result of the comment.

“Kelly, here’s a little newsflash, and this may be a little intense for 11 o’clock in the morning on a Friday: We’re all dying,” Meghan McCain said at the time. “I’m dying, you’re dying, we’re all dying.”

She went on to say that her family has felt the love and prayers from well-wishers. “I want to say since my dad has been diagnosed — it’s almost a year — I really feel like I understand the meaning of life, and it is not how you die. It is how you live,” she said.

“I always have had something to believe in. My dad’s about character and bipartisanship and something greater than yourself, and believing in this country and believing in the fact that we as Americans can still come together,” she continued. “That’s something I grew up in and feeds me everyday. I’m not scared of death anymore, I’m just not. Whatever you want to say in this kind of environment, the thing that surprises me most is, I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re in where that’s acceptable and you can come into work the next day and still have a job. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

This story is developing…