Civil Rights Icon Rep. John Lewis Hears Outpour Of Support After Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis

Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis (D-GA) reported on Sunday that he is undergoing treatment for cancer, the New York Times reported.


“I have been in some sort of fight — for freedom, equality, generic human rights — for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” Rep. Lewis, 79, mentioned in a statement. He added that while in a routine medical appointment, doctors discovered he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer — the most advanced stage of an infection that affects 56,770 people each year, according to the American Cancer Society. According to studies from 2015, a little bit more than half of all people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer receive their diagnosis once the cancer is in stage 4; the five-year survival rate is at just three percent. Yet, each outlook varies depending on the individual and why they respond to treatment.


“While I am clear-eyed about the prognosis, doctors have notified me that recent medical advances have made this kind of cancer treatable in several situations, that treatment options are no longer as debilitating as they once were, and that I have a fighting chance,” Lewis mentioned in the statement.


Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement, and fought discrimination in the 1960s by organizing sit-ins as one of the original Freedom Riders plus a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, according to the Times; he has famously called that work a matter of practicing “good trouble.” He was arrested 40 times over a 6-year period in the 1960s and advocated for nonviolence despite being beaten countless times throughout the movement, the Times reported.


The son of sharecroppers and also a mentee of Martin Luther King Jr., At 23 years old Lewis became one of the youngest of the Big Six civil rights leaders and helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, according to the Washington Post.


Nearly 25 years later, in 1987, Lewis was elected to Congress as a Democratic representative for Georgia. Today, he’s known for his enthusiastic work on voting rights; just this month, he championed a voting rights bill by means of the Residence and banged the gavel as it was passed, USA Today reported.


“I will return to Washington in coming days to continue our work and start my treatment plan, which will occur over the next a number of weeks,” Lewis mentioned in his statement. “I may miss a couple of votes while in this period, although with God’s grace I am going to be back on the front lines soon.”


Numerous other public officials, including Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi, 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Julián Castro and Pete Buttigieg, and Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp joined in the chorus of support for a speedy recovery for the representative.


Former President Barack Obama echoed these sentiments, tweeting on Sunday (December 29): “If there’s one thing I love about [Rep. Lewis], it’s his incomparable will to fight. I know he’s got a lot more of that left in him. Praying for you, my friend.”