Bob Dole: I Have Lung Cancer

Health troubles continue for former long-serving Kansas senator Bob Dole, who's been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. The 97-year-old made the announcement Thursday, saying he would begin treatment on Monday. "While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own," he said in a statement. Dole, who suffered serious injuries in Italy during World War II, underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 1991; abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery in 2001; was hospitalized after a fall in 2005; and treated for a leg infection in 2009, reports CNN.

He served as congressman from 1961 to 1969 and as senator from 1969 until 1996, when he became the Republican presidential nominee. He would lose the election to Democrat Bill Clinton, who awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom the following year, per NBC News. In January 2018, Dole was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. "In hearing [Dole's] story they will truly learn what it means to be a great American," former President Trump said at the medal ceremony, per CNN. "Bob, that is the legacy that you have left our nation and it will outlive us all." (Rush Limbaugh died after his own battle with lung cancer.)