Conservative host Rush Limbaugh, who announced in February that he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, told his listeners this week that recent scans showed “some progression of cancer.”
“The scans did show some progression of cancer,” Limbaugh said on Monday. “Now, prior to that, the scans had shown that we had rendered the cancer dormant. That’s my phrase for it. We had stopped the growth. It had been reduced, and it had become manageable.”
“But there’s always the reality and the knowledge that that can change and it can come back because it is cancer. It eventually outsmarts pretty much everything you throw at it.”
Limbaugh, 69, announced his cancer diagnosis a day before he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. He said he started experiencing shortness of breath on Jan. 12 before he was diagnosed by doctors.
“From the moment you get the diagnosis, there’s a part of you every day, OK, that’s it, life’s over, you just don’t know when,” Limbaugh continued. “So, during the period of time after the diagnosis, you do what you can to prolong life, do what you can to prolong a happy life. You measure a happy life against whatever medication it takes.”
He shared how he has suffered psychologically since his diagnosis earlier this year.
“It’s tough to realize that the days where I do not think I’m under a death sentence are over,” Limbaugh told his audience, on the verge of tears. “We all know we’re going to die at some point. When you have a terminal disease diagnosis that has a time frame to it, then that puts a different psychological and even physical awareness to it.”
The conservative radio host said that he is grateful to be able to continue his work despite the physical toll it has had on him.
“I feel very blessed to be here speaking with you today. Some days are harder than others. I do get fatigued now. I do get very, very tired now. I’m not gonna mislead you about that,” said Limbaugh. “But I am extremely grateful to be able to come here to the studio and to maintain as much normalcy as possible—and it’s still true.”
“Hearing from you, know that you’re out there praying and everything else you’re doing, that is a blessing,” Limbaugh said, thanking his listeners for their support. “It’s just a series of blessings, and I am grateful to be able to come here to the studio and tell you about it.”
“I go to bed every night praying I’m going to wake up,” he added. “It’s a blessing when you wake up.”
Earlier this month Trump hosted a virtual rally on Limbaugh’s show, which first aired in 1988.
“I’m thrilled to announce that our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, will be right here tomorrow hosting the largest virtual rally in radio history,” Limbaugh said on his show on Oct. 8. “It will be special, and I am really looking forward to it.”
