The fight of his life. Fox News star Charles Krauthammer has revealed in an emotional letter that he is losing his cancer battle.
The conservative political analyst, 68, shared the news in a note published by the Washington Post, where he’s been a columnist since 1984.
“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,” Krauthammer, who hasn’t appeared on the network’s Special Report series for nearly a year, wrote on Friday, June 8. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you that fate has decided on a different course for me.”
“In August of last year, I underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my abdomen. That operation was thought to have been a success, but it cased a cascade of secondary complications — which i have been fighting in hospital ever since,” he continued. “It was a long and hard fight with many setbacks, but I was steadily, if slowly, overcoming each obstacle along the way and gradually making my way back to health.”
The Pulitzer Prize winner then revealed that the cancer has returned. “There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live,” he explained. “This is the final verdict. My fight is over.”
Krauthammer went on to thank his doctors and caregivers, “whose efforts have been magnificent,” and his “dear friends” for giving him “a lifetime of memories and whose support has sustained [him] in these difficult months.” He also praised his partners at the Washington Post, Fox News and Crown Publishing.
“Lastly, I thank my colleagues, my readers, and my viewers, who have made my career possible and given consequence to my life’s work,” he wrote. “I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a notable undertaking. I am grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation’s destiny.”
Krauthammer left his readers with a heartfelt final thought: “I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.”
Fox’s executive chairman Rupert Murdoch released a statement following the news, thanking Krauthammer for his contribution to the network. “Charles has always been a profound source of personal and intellectual inspiration for all of us at Fox News,” he said, via Fox. “His always principled stand on the most important issues of our time has been a guiding star in an often turbulent world, a world that has too many superficial thinkers vulnerable to the ebb and flow of fashion, and a world that, unfortunately, has only one Charles Krauthammer. His words, his ideas, his dignity and his integrity will resonate within our society and within me for many, many years to come.”
Many celebrities and politicians also took to social media on Friday to honor Krauthammer. “Karen [Pence] and I were saddened to learn that Charles Krauthammer, a man we greatly admire, is nearing the end of his extraordinary life,” tweeted Vice President Mike Pence. “His wit, his wisdom, and his tireless defense of Western values made him an indelible mark in the minds of millions of Americans, and his irreplaceable pen and voice shaped our nation for the better.”
Added House Majority Whip Steve Scalise: “My prayers are with Charles and his family, and I will be thinking of him often. His kindness and intelligence are monumental in scale, and he has built a tremendous legacy as a leading light of American political thought.”
