Rep. Scalise says cancer treatment going ‘phenomenally’ well

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a top contender for the next House speaker, says his doctors are very encouraged with the progress of his treatment for cancer.

Mr. Scalise, Louisiana Republican, who appeared on Fox News Friday, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in late August— a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow.

“Thank God, they caught it early. I have a great team of doctors—the best in the world,” Mr. Scalise said. “They were able to put me on some drugs really quickly. My doctors weeks ago looked and said, ’It’s going phenomenally well, you’re ready to go back to work and get in the fight.’”

While Myeloma is treatable, each patient’s prognosis depends on factors including symptoms, age, classification and stage of the disease, according to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

According to the database of the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER), the five-year relative survival rate was 57.9% for myeloma patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2018.

Mr. Scalise, 57, an early supporter of former President Donald Trump, was passed over for an endorsement by Mr. Trump, who threw his support behind his opponent for speaker, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

The Louisiana lawmaker, who has served in the House and risen through the leadership ranks since 2008, said he spoke to Mr. Trump before the endorsement and that there are “a lot of friendships in this race.”

“I’ve been talking to other folks on the outside to bring into this race,” he said.

Mr. Scalise is hailed as a hero among his colleagues for surviving a 2017 shooting rampage by an anti-Trump gunman who fired upon GOP lawmakers on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington. The shooter, who was shot dead by police, was a left-wing activist.

Mr. Scalise walks with a cane due to the shooting injury, and notes that Mr. Trump was a frequent hospital visitor during his painful rehabilitation. 

“When I was in the hospital, I almost didn’t make it through. After the shooting, President Trump was right there and lifted my family up at the lowest times,” he said.

“People don’t even see that side of him — how wonderful he was at my lowest moments in 2017. I didn’t know if I would make it through those days. I did. I’m a fighter,” he said. “I’ve been proven through a lot of battles. God’s given me a lot of strength.”

Mr. Scalise began shoring up support for the speaker’s gavel almost as soon as Mr. McCarthy announced late Tuesday that he would not try to win back the speakership and that he, too, could unite the divided House Republicans.

“You know my leadership style I’ve displayed as majority leader and whip,” Mr. Scalise wrote to fellow Republicans. “I have a proven record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible.”