House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, has been diagnosed with blood cancer.
The Louisiana Republican said it will take months to treat but that it is a “very treatable” form of cancer, and he will continue to work in Congress. He said he has already begun treatment.
“After a few days of not feeling like myself this past week, I had some blood work done,” Scalise announced on X/Twitter. “The results uncovered some irregularities and after undergoing additional tests, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a very treatable blood cancer.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell: “Healthy plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs. In multiple myeloma, cancerous plasma cells accumulate in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy blood cells.”
In 2017, Scalise was shot by a Democrat activist during a congressional baseball team practice. He underwent multiple surgeries and was in and out of intensive care for the wound, which was called life-threatening by the hospital. The bullet caused “significant damage” to bones, organs and blood vessels, . After several surgeries and weeks of progress, his condition was upgraded from critical to stable and he was released after six weeks to begin extensive rehabilitation.
It is unclear if the 2017 bullet wound and subsequent events contributed to the development of the myeloma.
Scalise has been a champion for American-made energy and has spoken publicly about the need for the Biden Administration to restore the emergency oil reserves known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been drained by Biden.
