Rep. Jamie Raskin, a prominent lawmaker representing D.C. suburbs in Maryland, announced that his cancer is in remission after he completed chemotherapy. The Democrat said in December that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma.
In a letter Thursday addressed "Dear America" on his website, the 60-year-old fourth-term congressman said that after receiving "a preliminary diagnosis of being 'in remission' from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with a 90% prognosis of no relapse, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love."
Raskin shared a video on social media of him ringing a bell to celebrate.
Tuesday I thanked nurses, doctors & pharmacists at @MedStarGUH who serve with splendid kindness—and saved my life over 5 months. I finished 6 rounds of 5-day chemo sessions—which they organized so I didn’t have to miss votes or hearings—and I rang the bell! A new chapter begins. pic.twitter.com/lAtpGyBG5b
— Jamie Raskin (@jamie_raskin) April 27, 2023
He said "many thousands" of people had reached out to him in the past five months "with expressions of prayer, best wishes, concern, solidarity, sympathy and moral encouragement."
He said he had received gifts, including bandanas, baseball caps, homemade scarves, vegan matzoh ball soup, poems and letters. E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, known for wearing bandanas himself, was among those who sent Raskin one.
Raskin said that he still was exhausted as he recovered from the final round of chemotherapy, but that he would issue a proper thank you soon.
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