Ruth Bader Ginsburg: ‘I’m Cancer-Free’

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced this week that she is cancer-free after her latest treatments for pancreatic cancer.

“I’m cancer-free. That’s good,” Ginsburg told CNN’s Joan Biskupic.

The 86-year-old Supreme Court justice underwent three weeks of radiation treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in August 2019 after doctors discovered a cancerous tumor on her pancreas during a routine blood test.

“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today completed a three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City,” the court’s statement read at the time.

It continued:

The focused radiation treatment began on August 5 and was administered on an outpatient basis to treat a tumor on her pancreas. The abnormality was first detected after a routine blood test in early July, and a biopsy performed on July 31 at Sloan Kettering confirmed a localized malignant tumor.”

The statement added that Ginsburg maintained an “active schedule” and confirmed that the tumor was treated, leaving “no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.”

“Justice Ginsburg will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans. No further treatment is needed at this time,” the statement added.

Ginsburg has struggled with her health in recent years, fighting cancer on more than one occasion.

As Breitbart News detailed:

Ginsburg, the liberal face of the Supreme Court, has fought cancer on and off for roughly two decades. She underwent a procedure to remove malignant nodules from her left lung on December 21st of last year. The cancerous growths were discovered while receiving treatment for a fall in her office. Ginsburg missed the court’s oral arguments for several days in February, participating in cases using transcripts — a first in the justice’s 25-year tenure on the bench.

Ginsburg has experienced several health issues in recent years. The justice underwent cancer surgeries in 1999 and 2009 and broke her ribs in at least two separate occasions. In 2014, Ginsburg had a stent inserted into her heart.

Ginsburg spoke to the public about her health scare during an appearance at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, in late August, telling the crowd, “As this audience can see, I am alive… and I’m on my way to being very well”:

“For one thing, I love my job,” Ginsburg added. “It’s the best and the hardest job I’ve ever had. It has kept me going through four cancer bouts. Instead of concentrating on my aches and pains, I just know that I have to read this set of briefs.”