Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in a statement Thursday that his cancer was in remission after he completed a course of chemotherapy.
Raskin announced in late December that he had been diagnosed with Lymphoma. He said at the time that he was getting ready to start chemo treatment on an outpatient basis at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Raskin continued working in the House of Representatives throughout his treatment, notably wearing head scarves to cover the hair loss that’s often a side effect of chemo—including a scarf he received from E Street Band musician “Miami” Steve Van Zandt, who had made them a staple of his wardrobe.
On Thursday in his statement, Raskin said, “Having now finished chemotherapy and rung the bell with my nurses doctors, having a midterm PET scan report showing ‘negative’ for any discernible cancer cells, and having 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.”
He goes on to thank “the many thousands of…Marylanders and those of you living much further away” who have “reached out to me over the last five months with expressions of prayer, best wishes, concern, solidarity, sympathy and moral encouragement—not to mention the beautiful gift of bandannas, homemade scarves and sweaters, Capitol Police baseball caps, hospital scrubs, wool hats, chocolate chip cookies, mandel bread, pea soup, vegan matzoh ball soup, and gorgeous paintings, poems and letters that I will treasure forever.”
The Capitol Police caps were likely given in reference to Raskin’s work as a member of the House Select Committee that investigated the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol last year.
Raskin finished his statement by promising another message would be “coming soon”—after he rebounded from his “still-exhausted and immune-compromised condition.”
Raskin is currently the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
