Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., announced Thursday that she underwent radiation treatment for breast cancer earlier this year and her doctors recently confirmed that the treatment went well.
"Of course this has been scary at times, since cancer is the word all of us fear, but at this point my doctors believe that my chances of developing cancer again are no greater than the average person," Klobuchar said in a post on Medium.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Klobuchar, 61, "was sitting in her apartment in Washington, D.C. waiting to cast a vote on the pandemic federal stimulus package when she got the news."
A mammogram in February alerted Klobuchar to a possible issue, and a biopsy later confirmed it was stage 1A breast cancer. She completed a course of radiation in May. In her post, Klobuchar noted that many people have delayed routine exams because of the pandemic — including her.
"It's easy to put off health screenings, just like I did. But I hope my experience is a reminder for everyone of the value of routine health checkups, exams, and follow-through," she wrote. "I am so fortunate to have caught the cancer at an early enough stage and to not need chemotherapy or other extensive treatments, which unfortunately is not the case for so many others."
This story originally published in the Morning Edition live blog.
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