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Meghan McCain pens heartfelt note about father's brain cancer battle

The daughter of the Arizona senator issued a statement on Twitter paying tribute to her father, and asking for the nation's prayers.
/ Source: TODAY

Meghan McCain shared an emotional tribute to her father on Twitter, where she released a statement following news that the Arizona senator had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Calling him "the toughest person I know," McCain said her 80-year-old father and former prisoner of war has been the one family member who has handled the news with confidence and calm.

“The cruelest enemy could not break him. The aggressions of political life could not bend him,” she wrote in a post Wednesday. “So he is meeting this challenge as he has every other. Cancer may afflict him in many ways: But it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has.”

Prior to her post, her father’s office released a statement by the Mayo Clinic announcing the cancer diagnosis. The discovery had been made after surgery last week to remove a blood clot above his left eye. The senator and his family are now weigh treatment options.

Meghan McCain said her family now struggles with “the anxiety about what comes next,” an angst they have endured before because of her father’s history with melanoma, a form of skin cancer.

Her mother, Cindy McCain, also took to social media to respond to a public outpouring of support. Calling her husband “my hero,” she posted a wedding photo of the couple and thanked everyone “for the wonderful thoughts.”

On Thursday, McCain responded to an "outpouring of support" he has received from well-wishers since announcing his diagnosis.

"Unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!" he said in a tweet.

Words of support and prayers for McCain had been flowing in over social media.

President Trump, who has openly mocked the Arizona senator’s POW background, was more respectful in his statement describing McCain as someone who has “always been a fighter.”

Former President Barack Obama praised McCain, who ran against him for the White House in 2008, as an "American hero & one of the bravest fighters I've ever known."

McCain has served Arizona in Congress since winning a 1982 election to the U.S. House. He won a seat to the Senate four years later and his since assumed various leadership positions.

The statement released by his office noted that treatment options include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.

"Senator McCain appreciates the outpouring of support he has received over the last few days. He is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona," the statement said. "He is grateful to the doctors and staff at Mayo Clinic for their outstanding care, and is confident that any future treatment will be effective."