Bob Novak Retires from Journalism After Brain Tumor Diagnosis

Brain Cancer Increasing Among Elderly

Former conservative political commentator and syndicated Chicago Sun Times columnist Robert (Bob) Novak was diagnosed with a brain tumor Sunday July 27. Novak is an accomplished author and is known for his role in publicly disclosing the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame. When his brain tumor was diagnosed, Bob Novak announced he would retire from journalism for an indefinite period.

This has been an unusually bad week for Bob Novak, 77. He was in the news on July 24 after he accidentally hit a homeless pedestrian with his car in Washington, D.C.

Bob Novak is the highly visible public figure to be diagnosed with a brain tumor in the past two months. On May 20, Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, 76, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Kennedy has served as a United States senator for 46 years. In contrast to Bob Novak, Ted Kennedy is one of the most famous liberal figures in American public life.

Both Bob Novak and Kennedy are being treated for their brain tumors in Boston, Novak at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Kennedy at Massachusetts General Hospital. In another odd coincidence, both men were rushed to Boston hospitals after suffering symptoms in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Neither man lives in Boston, though Kennedy does maintain a home on Cape Cod. Bob Novak and his wife Geraldine had flown to Boston to visit a daughter who lives there.

As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, there has been a dramatic increase in primary malignant brain tumors in the elderly based on data from 1973 to 1985. For elderly in Bob Novak and Ted Kennedy's age range, age 75-79, the data showed a 183% jump in diagnoses in 1985 compared to the data from 1973-74. Data concerning older patients showed even larger jumps, with the increase for the age 80-84 population at 394% and for the age 85 and up group at 501%.

An article in Medscape Today suggests that the high incidence of malignant brain tumors in elderly patients such as Bob Novak and Ted Kennedy may stem from an accumulation of biotoxins.