Tony Snow Dies of Cancer at 53
Sad news this morning out of Washington D.C. Tony Snow, the former White House Press Secretary and reporter for FOX News has died at the age of 53 in his ongoing battle with colon cancer. Although Snow infuriated me no end as the shameless front man for the Bush administration, I had tremendous respect for him. Of all the various forms of cancer to fight, colon cancer has to be up there with lung cancer as one of the worst. Even amidst his chemotherapy treatments and ongoing health problems, Tony would somehow manage to stand at the White House podium, do his job, and do it well. He was a wonderful role model for those struggling against the disease and now we’ve lost him. Washington was a better place with Tony Snow in it. He’ll be missed by those on both sides of the aisle.
tony Snow was a man with many political ideological flaws, but a man none the less. He lived a life filled with experiences rarely shared my others. As a physician that has diagnosed and treated numerous 20-40 year old patients without a family history of colon cancer Snow’s story resonates. I hope his story brings the countries attention to the need for more funding in medical research. Colon cancer screening is recommended to start at age 50 as long as there isn’t a strong family history or bowel disease that would predispose a patient to early colon cancer. Snow’s screening was to have started at age 50, but was likely metastatic by that time. More medical research funding is required in this country and has been terribly neglected in the last 8 years. I pray for the Snow family and for the thousands of patients that die from the 3rd leading cause of cancer death.