ATLANTA, GA — Longtime Atlanta congressman and civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis, 79, said Sunday that he has been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Doctors have told Lewis that he has a chance to beat the disease, and he plans to return soon to Washington, D.C., to begin treatment and resume work on Capitol Hill.
Lewis recently learned from doctors following a routine medical visit, and subsequent tests, that he has cancer.
“I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” Lewis said. “While I am clear-eyed about the prognosis, doctors have told me that recent medical advances have made this type of cancer treatable in many cases, that treatment options are no longer as debilitating as they once were, and that I have a fighting chance.
“So I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the beloved community. We still have many bridges to cross.”
Prayers, well-wishes and encouragement for Lewis were shared by state and national Democratic leaders, along with entertainment luminaries.
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said, “John Lewis is one of the strongest people I know. He already beat Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan — cancer is next. Please join me in lifting him and his family in prayer.”
And actor Mark Hamill, star of the “Star Wars” films, tweeted, “I’m hoping with all my soul that civil rights icon, conscience of our country & national treasure @repjohnlewis kicks cancer’s ASS!”
Lewis, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump for several years, recently gained attention for his impassioned comments urging his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote to impeach the president.
The impeachment proceedings were a sad day in American history, he said. “It’s a sad day, it is not a day of joy. … For some this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history,” Lewis said.
In January 2017, Lewis said that Trump’s presidential election wasn’t legitimate, making claims of Russian influence in the vote.
In response, Trump had harsh words to say about Lewis’ 5th Congressional District, which includes downtown Atlanta, along with surrounding communities — some impoverished, others affluent. Saying the congressman should spend more time helping his district, Trump referred to the area as being “in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested).”
Georgia’s 5th Congressional District includes parts of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties, including most of the city of Atlanta. Other cities in the 5th District include Brookhaven, Decatur and South Fulton.
Lewis is a member of the Democratic Party leadership in the House and has served as a chief deputy whip since 1991 and senior chief deputy whip since 2003. He has been awarded many honorary degrees, including the highest civilian honor of the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lewis said he will return to Washington in coming days to continue his work and begin a treatment plan, which will occur over the next several weeks. The congressman said he may miss a few votes during this period, but “with God’s grace I will be back on the front lines soon.”
“Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this journey,” his statement concluded.
Lewis was born the son of sharecroppers on Feb. 21, 1940, outside of Troy, Alabama. He grew up on his family’s farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. As a young boy, he was inspired by the activism surrounding the Montgomery bus boycott and the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he heard on radio broadcasts.
As a student at Fisk University, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those rides many times by sitting in seats reserved for white patrons. He was also beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South, his biography says.
From 1963 to 1966, Lewis was named chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which he helped form, to organize student activism, including sit-ins and other activities.
At the age of 23, he was an architect of, and a keynote speaker at, the historic March on Washington in August 1963.
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