I am a retired lawyer, admitted to the Illinois Bar since 1962, a member of the bar of the United States Tax Court, and a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court Bar since 1963.  I am a retired officer in the United States Navy, and a veteran of the Viet Nam conflict.  My wife and I reside together west of Dubois, Wyoming.  In 2006, while an active litigator in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, I was diagnosed with Barrette's  Esophageal Syndrome.  On November 10, 2006, I was operated upon by Neurosurgeon Matthew Blum and his surgical team at Northwestern Faculty Hospital Center in Chicago.  Malignancies in my esophagus were removed and a malignant tumor was removed with the upper portion of my stomach.  Like Senator McCain, I am over age 70.  I am alive and in remission by reason of Dr. Blum's skills and early diagnosis in Wyoming. I promptly retired from the practice of law.  Under the circumstance of this malevolent disease, I believe I became morally and ethically bound not to attempt to render people trusted personal or business legal services.  Cancer I accept to be a physically and mentally debilitating condition that may reappear and impose a heavy mental and physical burden.  I do not blame nor pity Senator McCain nor myself for having the suffered cancer.  I am appalled, however, that with recognition of the preexisting knowledge of having suffered the condition and knowledge of those implications, (my life expectancy has been predicted to be three to five years), he has sought and continuous to seek the presidency.  In that office he should recognize the magnitude of his responsibility for the trust and welfare of the American People. That is not unlike, but, to the  extent that it involves our citizens'  security and very lives,  of far greater magnitude than in accepting legal responsibility for a clientele's trust in protection their private financial and business affairs.  This is a moral and ethical question, as far as I see it, considering my evaluation of my own expectations.  The Senator is, after all, not running for the presidency of a high school student council.  He candidacy, I believe, suffers from a lack of ethical and moral courage and common sense in its implications and in the sense if the innate limitations his condition imposes on his abilities, borders on deceit.  Very respectfully and humbly submitted,  Walwyn M. Trezise, Dubois, Wyoming

Barb in Texas

2/ 5/09 5:38pm

Mr. Trezise, I just found this comment of yours on Feb.5, '09 and am wondering 1) how you are doing now, and 2) what your thoughts are now that the political issue is settled?

 

I am a 3x ca survivor (stage 4 colo-rectal in '87-'88, stage 3 breast '01-'06, and squamous cell skin ca somewhere in the 90's) and know what an upset cancer can do to one's life. Currently my husband is fighting recurrent bladder cancer, has had 4 proceedures over the past year, and I firmly believe it is more difficult to watch a loved one deal with it than to have it myself.

 

Quite honestly, I had not thought that McCain's cancer in the past was much of an issue in the press, and it should have been. You are correct, people who have not dealt with it do not know all of the ramifications.

 

Please reply if you have the time and interest. Thank you for your post, wish you had received more replies.

 

Barb in Texas

Anonymous

6/ 8/10 1:09pm

Dear Barb, 

I remain in remission.  I have a number of side effects.  One of the worst was that I had undergone extensive stomach and throat surgery, which placed me under general anesthesia for a period of almost 10 hours during a 13 and 1/2 hour procedure.  As a result, psychologists tell me I suffered a cognitive brain loss.  I was a litigator while in law practice for 45 years.  After I got back on my feet and tried to resume my case load, I discovered that I could no longer speak extemporaneously when getting up to express my arguments to judges and juries.  I could not come up with descriptive words to express ideas, though I was thoroughly knowledgeable about what I was trying to say.  I had also lost a great deal of energy.  I recognized I was doing no service to clients in this condition and promptly retired.  I owe a great deal of my present happiness to my wife, Mary Lou Petty, who has been of tremendous moral and physical support.  And, of course to the surgical team, particularly Dr. Matt Blume, a thoracic oncology surgeon, formerly on the staff of Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, now doing the same in his hometown of Colorado Springs.  

As to Senator McCaine, my feelings have not changed, though I suffer from contact while serving as an naval officer, with his classmates, who almost universally felt he was not competent to have been allowed to graduate from Annapolis, and felt he was allowed to graduate because both his father and grandfather were high ranking admirals.

I will be thinking of you and your husband while I undergo recurring procedures.  I live now in Dubois, a very small town, where cancer victims know and support each other.  I find that keeping up a confident attitude and with the support of others, I can face life each day.  Very truly yours, Walwyn M. Trezise