Conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer announced unexpectedly Friday that his cancer has returned and he likely only has weeks to live.
"I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me," Krauthammer wrote in a note to readers.
Krauthammer underwent surgery in 2017 to remove a cancerous tumor, but he was hospitalized by a series of secondary complications. "It was a long and hard fight with many setbacks, but I was steadily, if slowly, overcoming each obstacle along the way and gradually making my way back to health," he wrote.
Initially, he was expected to make a full recovery. In a public statement read aloud on Fox News by anchor Bret Baier, Krauthammer, a regular Fox News contributor, told fans last month that the worst was behind him and he would soon return to air.
"However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned," Krauthammer wrote Friday. "There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over."
Krauthammer bade farewell to his colleagues at the Post, Fox News, and Crown Publishing, and thanked readers especially for allowing him to carry out his life's work.
"I leave this life with no regrets," he wrote. "It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended."
Twitter users responded immediately to the news with an outpouring of support.
Fox News just read a letter from @krauthammer saying he has only a few weeks left to live b/c of an aggressive cancer. He has been an amazing colleague and friend. He was brilliant, generous, kind and an inspiration to everyone who met him. Keep him and his family in your prayers
— Kirsten Powers (@KirstenPowers) June 8, 2018
I knew this was coming, but that doesn't lessen the agony of this announcement. Charles Krauthammer is one of the most brilliant, decent, humane, impressive people I have ever had the honor to know, never mind call a friend. I am heartbroken over this. https://t.co/DRC8YoFwN0
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) June 8, 2018
Charles Krauthammer says he is losing his battle with cancer and has a few weeks to live. He is brilliant, wickedly funny, a force of nature despite his disabilities. I am heartbroken
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) June 8, 2018
More heartbreaking news today. Charles Krauthammer's cancer has returned. "It is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over." https://t.co/4BIxynLR6M
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 8, 2018