John McCain reveals increasingly worrisome health prognosis

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) offered insight into his struggle with an aggressive brain cancer diagnosis Sunday night on CBS' "60 Minutes," saying doctors have not given him a good prognosis.

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One estimate puts his chance of survival in the single-digit percentile, he said.

“It’s very, very serious ... Some say 3 percent, some say 14 percent,” he said. “You know, it’s ... it’s a very poor prognosis.”

McCain, 81, said that despite the grim news, he was happy to have lived a wonderful life.

A former naval aviator shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and held as a prisoner of war until 1973, McCain said he wants to be remembered for his service to his country and he wants his memorial service to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, at his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy.

Though his health may be failing, McCain remains dedicated to service and America, he said, especially in the current political climate, where he has become a dissenting Republican voice on health care. Fixing health care may ultimately mean McCain will have to work with President Donald Trump, though the two have repeatedly clashed, the senator acknowledged.

“I’d be glad to converse with him. But I also understand that we’re very different people. Different upbringing. Different life experiences,” McCain told CBS. “He is in the business of making money ... I was raised in the concept and belief that duty, honor, country is the lodestar for the behavior that we have to exhibit every single day.”

Cox Media Group