• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Back on Job, Snow Looks Forward to Busy Schedule

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 May 2007, 06:00 CDT

By David Jackson

WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Tony Snow says he's looking forward to toasting Catholic University graduates and an upcoming competition with his band, Beats Workin'.

Then there's the matter of biweekly chemotherapy sessions for four months, beginning Friday, to treat his latest bout with cancer. He had a cancerous growth on his abdomen removed March 26.

Snow, who returned to work Monday, said he plans to stay busy and won't shy away from discussing how cancer has affected his life with others. "I'd much rather have help with it than go off in a corner and be by myself," said Snow, who lost his colon to cancer in 2005.

Snow, 51, wasted no time picking up a busy schedule: He attended his reunion at Davidson College in North Carolina last weekend. Snow spent Monday greeting colleagues and catching up. On tap May 12 is a commencement address at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and then he's performing in a "battle of the bands" on May 14 at the National Press Club. Snow plays the flute and guitar for his group.

"If it's going to affect my performance, I'm going to dial back," Snow told reporters. He said he was optimistic about new treatments, including a "chemo cocktail" with two unnamed drugs not widely used on cancer patients two years ago.

The White House announced Snow's cancer recurrence in March, just days after Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, disclosed her breast cancer had returned.

On Monday, Snow choked up when talking to reporters publicly. He also resumed his standard give-and-take with them, such as when asked about Randall Tobias, a State Department official who resigned because of ties to an alleged prostitution ring. "Do you want to take this one?" Snow asked his deputy, Dana Perino. The crowd broke out in laughter.

Snow said he believes public discussion about cancer is important so other patients realize they're not alone. "We're in a transition when it comes to cancer. It's gone from being the scariest disease on Earth to something that's treatable." (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

More News in this Category