Scalise Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, Plans to Work Through Cancer Treatment

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced Tuesday he has been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and intends to continue working throughout his cancer treatment, which has already commenced.

Scalise took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share the diagnosis. 

After a few days of not feeling like myself this past week, I had some blood work done. The results uncovered some irregularities and after undergoing additional tests, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a very treatable blood cancer.

I have now begun treatment, which will…

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 29, 2023

“After a few days of not feeling like myself this past week, I had some blood work done. The results uncovered some irregularities and after undergoing additional tests, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a very treatable blood cancer,” Scalise wrote. 

“I have now begun treatment, which will continue for the next several months,” he added. “I expect to work through this period and intend to return to Washington, continuing my work as Majority Leader and serving the people of Louisiana’s First Congressional District.”

The majority leader is in good spirits, expressing gratitude the illness was discovered early on: 

I am incredibly grateful we were able to detect this early and that this cancer is treatable. I am thankful for my excellent medical team, and with the help of God, support of my family, friends, colleagues, and constituents, I will tackle this with the same strength and energy as I have tackled past challenges.

The Mayo Clinic describes Multiple Myeloma as “a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell.”

“Healthy plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs,” it adds. 

The diagnosis comes several years after James Hodgkinson shot Scalise and several others during a Republican baseball practice for the Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise sustained a wound to his hip. Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), contend Hodgkinson was “incited, really, by rhetoric on the left.” 

“I just started to pray,” Scalise recalled of the attack while speaking with Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Daily nearly four years later. “I’ve got a strong faith, and I just said, ‘You know, what? I’m just going to have a conversation with God, and put it in his hands,’ and once I did it, it’s amazing how calm everything got, because I truly just didn’t want to go that day.”

Three months after the shooting, Scalise made a triumphant return to Congress.