Senator Resilient: How John McCain Battled Skin Cancer, And Won
John McCain is a survivor. He endured more than five years as a prisoner of war after being shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. And the five-term senator from Arizona, who was the 2008 Republican nominee for President, has also survived melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, not once, but twice.
McCain was first diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 1993. Doctors surgically removed the cancer from his left arm. Then in 2000, in the midst of McCain’s unsuccessful bid to win the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, doctors had to remove melanomas on McCain’s temple and left arm. As an added precaution, they also removed 34 lymph nodes during the surgery, which lasted five and a half hours, in case the melanoma had spread.
The risk factors for the disease — which include fair skin, light hair and excessive sunburns – made McCain the perfect candidate for skin cancer. McCain remembers having several bad sunburns during his childhood, including some that produced blisters on his back.
McCain has been skin cancer free for almost 11 years, but he’s not taking any chances. Every morning he applies SPF 30 (sun protection factor) sunscreen and wears a hat and long sleeve shirts whenever he’s outside.