Ann Richards has cancer

[Livia]

I love her, and wish her a speedy recovery!

Former Gov. Richards confronts cancer
She'll consult doctors at M.D. Anderson in Houston

By W. Gardner Selby, Mary Ann Roser
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 09, 2006

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards revealed Wednesday that she has esophageal cancer and is consulting specialists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Richards, 72, the state's Democratic governor from 1991 into 1995, made the announcement through Public Strategies, the Austin firm that has employed her as a senior adviser for nearly five years.

"I'm doing great," Richards told a friend on Wednesday, according to a Public Strategies spokesman. "I've just got cancer." Richards, who lost her 1994 gubernatorial re-election bid to George W. Bush, had developed a rousing national reputation after saying at the 1988 Democratic National Convention that Bush's father, the first President Bush, was born with a "silver foot in his mouth."

M.D. Anderson is expected to do further testing to determine how advanced the cancer is and could help devise a treatment plan.

Bill Maddox, the Public Strategies' spokesman, said Richards was told she has squamous-cell cancer of the mid-esophagus.

"It would be her nature to go through this in a public way," Maddox said, recalling Richards' published chronicles on confronting osteoporosis and alcoholism.

Treating cancer of the esophagus, the tube that carries liquid and food to the stomach, has improved in recent years but remains difficult, said Dr. Stephen Swisher, professor of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at M.D. Anderson. He is not Richards' doctor and did not address her case.

The esophagus is behind the heart and the standard treatment, to remove at least part of the esophagus and connect stomach to the remaining tube, is a difficult operation, Swisher said. Radiation and chemotherapy are often used in combination with the surgery, he said.

About 12,000 U.S. residents are diagnosed each year with esophageal cancer. It claims 10,500 lives annually, he said.

Up to 90 percent of people can survive if the cancer is caught early, Swisher said. If the cancer has spread to other organs, only about 5 percent can be cured, he said.

Smoking and drinking — Richards smoked 25 to 30 years and is a recovering alcoholic — are associated with esophageal cancer, which is more common in people older than 60.

Richards lost both of her parents to cancer and has been known for advocating a healthy lifestyle. She's an avid exerciser and, in 2003, wrote her book on battling osteoporosis.

"Attitude helps a lot with the outcome," Swisher said.

Richards, the former state treasurer and Travis County commissioner, has long been a spark plug in Democratic circles. Since leaving public office, she's worked as a lobbyist (including for tobacco companies) and consultant while keeping up a vigorous speaking schedule.

On Friday, she told students at the University of North Texas in Denton: "If we want our food to be safe and our economy to be strong, if we want clean air, land and water, we have to fight like hell to get them and to keep them like our (nation's) founders."

Tony Gutierrez, a university junior who covered Richards' appearance for the campus newspaper, The North Texas Daily, said he saw no signs of illness. "She was talking like a Texan," he said. "I didn't notice anything. But I wasn't looking either."

Gov. Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, sent "our prayers and wishes." President Bush and his wife, Laura, likewise sent their best and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Richards was scheduled to serve as host at the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards on Friday in Austin, but will no longer be able to attend.

Cathy Bonner, an Austin businesswoman who worked in the Richards' administration, said Richards recently returned from a three-week trip to India. She and Richards bumped into each other in a Swiss airport.

Bonner said of the diagnosis: "Whatever it is, she'll face it with courage and conviction."

Symptoms of esophageal cancer include heartburn, acid reflux and trouble swallowing. Swisher said that people having any of those symptoms should get checked, because early detection spares lives.

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...9richards.html