ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday that his cancer is in remission.
Flanked by his family and Cabinet officials, the first-year Republican governor, who was diagnosed six months ago with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said six rounds of chemotherapy at the University of Maryland’s Medical Center had succeeded.
“Next week, families all over Maryland and all across the nation will gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays. And this year, I have a great many things to be thankful for,” Mr. Hogan said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Joining him in his announcement at the Governor’s Reception Room in the Maryland State House, his physicians — Dr. Aaron Rapoport of the University of Maryland Medical Center and Dr. Arun Bhandari of Chesapeake Oncology Hematology Associates — said they were thrilled with the governor’s progress.
“It’s just a pleasure and a privilege, and we’re so grateful for where he is right now and God willing, it should continue,” Dr. Rapoport said.
The doctors said that while Mr. Hogan has beaten cancer, it could return, so he will have to continue being examined for the next months and years to ensure it doesn’t come back.
“It’s only something you know in retrospect, so each chunk of time that passes makes it more and more likely” that he does not have cancer, Dr. Rapoport said. “But it’s a continuous process, so the longer time lapses without any sign of cancer, the more likely it is to remain that way.”
Mr. Hogan first found the golf-ball sized lump on his throat while shaving at the end of a trade mission to Asia in June, and after days of testing, doctors found about 60 tumors in his lymph system. Despite the stage 3 diagnosis, his doctors told him he had a strong chance of survival and recovery because non-Hodgkin lymphoma responds to treatment.
“My hair will start to grow back,” Mr. Hogan joked. “Before you know it, I’ll be back to 110 percent.”
Now cancer-free, Mr. Hogan, 59, will resume a full public schedule of what he called his “normal 15- to 18-hour days.” He will give the keynote speech at the Republican Governors Association in Las Vegas, for which he will be flying out Tuesday.
While in chemotherapy, Mr. Hogan did much of his governing from the hospital and his home, leaving Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and first lady Yumi Hogan to make public appearances on his behalf.
Mr. Hogan also will grapple with whether Maryland will accept any of the 10,000 Syrian refugees President Obama has said he wants to resettle in the U.S. next year. A host of Republican governors already have objected to resettlement, but Mr. Hogan said he wants to make a “reasoned and careful decision about what we will do in Maryland.”
Since his diagnosis, Mr. Hogan has become outspoken for cancer research, and he’s drawn support from Mr. Obama, U.S. Supreme Court justices and fellow governors. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has even sported a lime green “Hogan Strong” wristband to show support.
Mr. Hogan also has tried to connect with cancer-stricken patients around Maryland, touring the state’s hospitals and bonding with children in cancer wards.
One of those patients, Mr. Hogan’s 5-year-old pen pal Andrew Oberle, was on hand Monday, and gave the governor a hug, a handwritten note and an American flag, which Mr. Hogan waved.
“Andrew and I communicate much more than I do with the media,” Mr. Hogan joked.
Andrew, a kindergartener at St. John’s Lutheran School in Baltimore County, has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a blood cancer.
• Anjali Shastry can be reached at ashastry@washingtontimes.com.
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