When I was first diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer earlier this year, I said that I had every intention of rolling into 2022 cancer-free. This morning, I found out that I beat my goal by a couple of months.
NO👏 EVIDENCE 👏OF 👏 DISEASE.
That's it. That's the tweet. ❤️
Last meal around our dinner table until November.
Driving to TX tomorrow.
Double mastectomy on Friday, recovery, then 2 months of radiation.
The hardest part of this cancer battle is leaving my children for 3 months. But it's worth it compared to leaving them forever. (1/3)
NEWS: My main tumor has shrunk, my PET scans are clear of any additional disease, and I'm moving to Houston for the next few months to send this cancer straight back to Hell where it belongs.
Thank you to all who have prayed for this/encouraged me! ❤️
New: On a call with reporters just now,
@WhipClyburn
says ex-President Bush told him he’s “the savior” because of his role in helping Biden win the Democratic nomination.
Clyburn says Bush went on to call Biden “the only one who could have defeated the incumbent president.”
This is my last medical update for a while. My surgery was a success. I only had to lose both breasts, 64 lymph nodes and half of my chest cavity - but I'm alive! 🙌 I remain in Houston while I recover and I start radiation in 2 weeks. Monday, I am coming off of medical leave ...
NEW: Senate candidate
@harrisonjaime
announcing this morning that he has raised a record $57 million in the Q3 in his race against
@LindseyGrahamSC
.
This is the highest quarterly amount raised by a Senate candidate in US history.
Brings his total haul to an unfathomable $86M.
If the
#WHCD
dinner did anything tonight, it made the chasm between journalists and those who don't trust us, even wider. And those of us based in the red states who work hard every day to prove our objectivity will have to deal with it.
Clyburn said former President Bush told him, “you know, you’re the savior, because if you had not nominated Joe Biden, we would not be having this transfer of power today.”
My latest on today’s inaugural revelation from
@WhipClyburn
.
A moment of civility: As POTUS is delayed due to weather,
@CNN
’ s
@Acosta
gave up his chair to an elderly Trump supporter. She was so appreciative that she wanted her photo taken with him. Her son said to Jim, “You’re a good man. Your mama raised you right.”
#SCGov
Today I completed my 34th (and final) immunotherapy treatment. 2 years of flying to Houston every 3 weeks was tiring, but totally worth it.
This visit, with its clear PET scan and ultrasound, also marks 2 full years of no evidence of disease. 🙌
A black, female elected official in South Carolina, who describes herself as a "conservative Democrat," is taking back her endorsement of
@JoeBiden
, opting instead to support
@BernieSanders
.
She explained her reasoning to me in an interview, tonight.
Look who came to visit me in Houston for the long weekend!
The hardest part of treatment - by far - has been not seeing them.
I’m a happy mama, tonight. ❤️❤️❤️
Hi!! I'm back on my feet after a 12-hr surgery. Got almost all accomplished, except for closing me up. I'll rely on this machine, attached to a large collagen patch for that, for awhile. And will need another surgery later.
But I just wanted to say thanks for the love. And ...
Headed back to Houston for a few days, to see my team of amazing doctors at MD Anderson, to find out if this new chemo is working.
I covet your prayers/positive thoughts.
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#BeatCancer
💪👠
A quick update: It's not working as well as we hoped it would. This cancer is rare and aggressive. But so am I.
I have 6 weeks to turn this around, and my doctors believe that I can do it. And so do I.
Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement. I love you all. 👠♥️
Headed back to Houston for a few days, to see my team of amazing doctors at MD Anderson, to find out if this new chemo is working.
I covet your prayers/positive thoughts.
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#BeatCancer
💪👠
LONDON (AP) — A British judge has rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be “oppressive” because of his mental health.
The U.S. said it would appeal the decision.
Women opposed to
#Kavanaugh
have been out in force since his nomination. But Senate staffers tell me they're fielding just as many calls and emails from women who support him. I spoke with a few this week and they shared their reasons why.
NEW: Donald Trump has picked up another endorsement from
@NikkiHaley
's home state of South Carolina, with Rep.
@NancyMace
backing the former president in this year's GOP presidential primary.
“I don’t see eye to eye perfectly with any candidate.
And until now I’ve stayed out…
Just had my quarterly scans in Houston at MD Anderson.
Clear! I'm 6 months with no disease‼️🙌
Still returning every 3 wks for immunotherapy, but I long for the day when I no longer must.
To those still battling - or just starting: fight hard and know that you're never alone!
(3/3) Finally, you knew it was coming:
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
(And stay tuned, because I'm going to have a lot more to say about all of that once I'm on the other side of this.)
#BeatCancer
👊👠😘.
Today starts another step in the battle.
Radiation, twice daily, over the next month or so.
If this works as it should, I could be home by November for a little reprieve.
All of this is to say: I may be slow to reply, but I'm still working. So keep pitching me!
And ...
MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — A gay man who was denied a marriage license by a Kentucky county clerk will run to unseat her in 2018. Democrat David Ermold announced his candidacy Wednesday to challenge Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis.
Here’s some video of a woman berating
@Acosta
. This went on for several minutes as many in the crowd cheered her on. As someone who’s covered my share of Trump rallies, it feels like 2016 all over again.
A staffer for President Trump blocks the shot as a photog photographs a demonstrator at tonight's rally in Indiana.
@AP
's
@evanvucci
with the action shot. 📸
... and getting back to work! Thank God for modern medicine - and places like MD Anderson. When I announced my diagnosis in Feb., I said my goal was to be cancer-free by the end of the year.
It still is.
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF.
#BeatCancer
👊👠😘
Sitting next to
@Acosta
is the ... ahem ... "best" seat in the house. Frequent chanting of "
@CNN
sucks," "Go home, Jim," after which many have then asked for selfies and autographs. 🤷♀️😂
#SCGov
This is my last full week in Houston. Monday is my final day of radiation, so I'll be back home in SC next week‼️
I'll be returning every 3 weeks, for the next 2 years, as part of a clinical trial to determine if immunotherapy is effective at preventing the recurrence ...
(2/3) I plan to work as much as I can from Houston. (So pitch me, sources!) I'm blessed to work for a company like AP. I've been supported - from all levels - since Day One. And I'm grateful.
Thanks to everyone for your prayers & constant encouragement.
I appreciate you. ❤️
Will be out of pocket for about a week, as I spend the next 5 days at MD Anderson Cancer Ctr in Houston. Then, a 2nd round of chemo as soon as I get back to SC. If I don’t respond, I’m not being rude, I’m just kicking cancer’s @$$. I’ll be back!💪👠
Get a mammogram.
#beatcancer
Here’s a piece from
@APLaurieKellman
& me on Clyburn’s kingmaker moment in the pivotal South Carolina primary that altered the shape of the entire presidential race last year.
I went outside today for the 1st time in 7 days! My husband took me to the pool, where we sat & enjoyed the breeze. On the way back up to our apt, I found a package w/ my name on it. It was a "homesick" candle from my
@AP
colleagues. My heart is smiling tonight.
Life is good. ❤️
Russian troops are shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power station in Ukraine.
“There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.”
The plant accounts for about one quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.
A government official tells The Associated Press elevated levels of radiation are being detected near the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which provides about 25% of the country’s power generation.
Germany’s Big Brother reality show participants are living in oblivion of the outbreak. In a special show airing Tuesday at 7 p.m., they will be informed about the pandemic.
The participants have been cut off from the outside world since Feb. 6.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz has been formally charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder, which could mean a death sentence if he's convicted.
This is not helpful. Narrow has nothing to do with the number of justices. A unanimous decision can also be a narrow ruling. You don't have to be a legal expert to know how to use Google.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Republicans on Saturday issued a formal censure to U.S.
@RepTomRice
, taking the step in disapproval of his vote supporting the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
Home. Scans and ultrasounds were perfect! 2022 is going to be a great year. I’m claiming it, now. 🙌
One year ago this month, I made the hard decision to go public with my diagnosis. I’ve never regretted it. Your support has helped carry me through. God bless you all! ❤️
Back in Houston for a few days, where it’s 68 & sunny! 🙌
Just routine scans and immunotherapy to ensure I remain “no evidence of disease.”
But, since it’s been a while, I mainly wanted to remind you to:
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. ADVOCATE for yourself.
#beatcancer
👊👠😘
The
@PostandCourier
's latest South Carolina primary poll is out - and it shows Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer cutting significantly into Joe Biden's lead, for the first time.
@JoeBiden
— 25%
@BernieSanders
— 20%
@TomSteyer
— 18%
(2/2) Pausing, he said:
"You tell my constituents I love 'em and it's the honor of my life to do this job ... I've tried to do my best to do the right thing and represent their interests, but if they decide that it's time for me to come home, that's OK, too."
Story to follow.
I can’t complain about 2021. This was the year I learned that, what doesn’t kill you, really does make you stronger.
Thank you for the love and support you showed me this year. I am blessed - and thankful! ♥️
#HAPPYNEWYEAR
🎆🎈🎉🎊🥳
(1/2) Had a lengthy convo w/
@TomRiceSC7
who told me he knows he'll be primaried for his vote for impeachment - and that it may cost him his seat in Congress.
"If it does, it does," he said.
At the end of my interview, I asked him if there was anything he'd like to add.
There are over 300,000 more female voters in South Carolina than there are men, yet South Carolina overwhelmingly elects candidates who oppose abortion. Regardless of how you stand on the issue, this "man vs. woman" messaging is not based in fact or reality.
Republican men are on a march toward overturning
#RoeVWade
. And thanks to Trump stacking the courts with anti-choice judges, they’re closer than ever. Women are scared, women are angry—and we have a right to be. If you’re an ally of women, now’s the time to make that clear.
So to (try to) break this down:
1. There was a candidate forum scheduled for today at Benedict College, sponsored by 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Ctr.
2. That group gave Trump an award.
3.
@KamalaHarris
pulled out in protest.
4. New event scheduled.
5. 20/20 group no longer hosting.
One last clip of the exchange as she accuses
@Acosta
of not respecting the United States. When he replies that he does, she says, “No! You do not respect it!”
#SCGov
“We are investing millions on the airwaves and on the ground to hold House Democrats accountable, highlight their obstruction, and take back the House and reelect President
@RealDonaldTrump
in 2020,”
@GOPChairwoman
said.
Another great trip to
@MDAndersonNews
for my quarterly PET scan/chest and neck ultrasounds.
One year and three months of "no evidence of disease!"
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#beatcancer
"But Kinnard can’t help but think back and wonder what could have happened if she had demanded a biopsy sooner, or if she hadn’t gotten that second opinion at all.
That’s why she’s sharing her story and encouraging others to be their best advocates."
"I'm kind of swinging between Amy and Bernie," a caucus-goer told AP.
Ultimately, though, he was convinced to join with Buttigieg.
"I was standing over by the Amy people but no one talked to me. A Pete woman came over so I said, well, 'OK, I'll go with Pete.'"
#IowaCaucus
BREAKING: Horry County Sheriff's office confirms two female "detainees" were trapped in a van and drowned in Marion County as they were being transported from Conway to Darlington. Two Horry County deputies were rescued from the top of the van, which is still in water.
#Florence
WASHINGTON (AP) — On a 64-34 vote, the U.S. Senate has confirmed South Carolina jurist Michelle Childs to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Childs' nomination was paused earlier this year while she was under consideration for the US Supreme Court.
UPDATE: City of Florence spokesman John Wukela tells me that Terrence Carraway is the officer who died from his injuries. He had just received his 30-year service pin from the department.
A quick 🧵:
Leaving Houston where I've just had my quarterly ultrasound and PET scan at
@MDAndersonNews
.
This was a special trip, however, as I can now say that I'm ONE YEAR without evidence of cancer! 🙌🙌🙌
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on the West to close the skies over the country’s nuclear plants as fighting intensified. “It is a question of the security of the whole world!” he said.
I asked
@NikkiHaley
if she would support Donald Trump if he runs again in 2024.
“Yes,” she told me.
“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it,” she added. “That’s something that we will have a conversation about, at some point.”
Story upcoming
I still have a long road ahead that involves double mastectomy, neck surgery & intense, twice-daily radiation, but I now I have a chance to someday be cancer free. I will never give up, nor will I stop saying:
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#BeatCancer
👠👊
@JoeBiden
@BernieSanders
Of her initial Biden endorsement, “It was a compromise choice,” she said. “I didn’t find anybody’s candidacy electrifying but I did find Joe Biden’s candidacy to be reassuring in a sort of normal, American kind of way.”
But of Sanders, she believes he can "inspire young voters."
Thank you to the newsroom at
@wyffnews4
, for your thoughtful and encouraging card. I appreciate it more than you know.
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#beatcancer
👠👊
On this day of joy and hope, I’m heading back to Houston for a few days to see my awesome team of oncologists at MD Anderson.
Hopefully the TSA won’t give me too much trouble with my festive, new wig.
Happy Easter, to all who celebrate! 🙌
"If I could ensure that my reception going forward across the country was as good as South Carolina, I'd be in good shape,"
@MichaelAvenatti
told me in an interview today as he tests the southern waters for 2020.
Finally, I am tweeting this from HOME. It feels so good to be back in South Carolina.
And you know what's coming ...
Self-exam. Get a mammogram. Advocate for yourself.
#BeatCancer
👊👠😘
(And stay tuned. I'm just getting started.)
NEWS:
@dscc
tells me that they're officially endorsing
@harrisonjaime
's bid to challenge
@LindseyGrahamSC
, saying the DNC official & ex-SC Democratic Party chairman “has shown his commitment to getting the job done.” Harrison formally launched his bid this week.
Picture 1 is the view from my window since I’ve been in Houston. So when I heard the
@Panthers
were playing, I just had to go.
My first non-medical outing since surgery, and it feels great to be out!
And if I may …
Self-exam. Get a mammogram.
#KeepPounding
#BeatCancer
👠👊
In a call with
@WhipClyburn
just now, he told me Biden called last night to tell him he was going to "suggest that South Carolina go first" in the primary process.
"I didn't ask to be first. It was his idea to be first," Clyburn told me, adding he was "pleasantly surprised."
@BernieSanders
@ninaturner
"When we read from the scriptures, the calling for the moment now is for nothing less than justice,"
@BernieSanders
says, to applause from this Reid Chapel AME congregation. "Justice is not justice when so few have so much, and so many have so little."
NEWS:
@harrisonjaime
's campaign tells me he’s broken a fundraising record in his challenge to
@LindseyGrahamSC
. Harrison says his $1.5M raised in Q2 is the highest quarterly posting for a Democrat challenging a sitting Republican senator in South Carolina.
“Brothers and sisters, at the end of the day, the one percent - they’ve got a lot of money and a lot of power,”
@BernieSanders
, getting s big crowd response. “But we’ve got something - 99 percent is a hell of a bigger number than one percent.”
“The rhetoric that he employs, the language that he uses, does not just offend our ears or our sensibilities - there’s a real cost & consequence in human life,”
@BetoORourke
says, of President Trump’s comments on
@IlhanMN
UPDATE: State Education Superintendent
@Molly_Spearman
says that 3,000 South Carolina school buses are being equipped with Wi-Fi to act as hotspots for students without internet access at home during the school closures.
Said a female
#Kavanaugh
supporter from Vermont: “I am digging my heels in, and I’m hoping that a lot of conservatives are determined to vote Republican. I think it’s galvanized the women on the right more than it’s galvanized the women on the left.”