Sean Hannity: Limbaugh Went Through ‘Treatments That Nearly Killed Him’ to Host Radio Show

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh pumps his fist as he is acknowledged by President Donald Trump as he delivers the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 4, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Fox News host Sean Hannity said that late radio host Rush Limbaugh went through a number of treatments for cancer that “nearly killed him” in order to do his show.

“His bucket list was his audience,” Hannity said in an interview with radio host Mark Levin. “He'd go through these treatments that nearly killed him, because I know people that have been through chemotherapy like this and cancer treatment like this, especially advanced-stage cancer, they nearly kill you to save you or nearly kill you to buy you time, and that’s been the last year of his life.”

He added, “And when he was well enough, even when he really wasn’t well enough, his time, the way he wanted to spend it was with his audience. That was his choice. The people that listened to him, that was the top and only item on his bucket list.”

Limbaugh, 70, died last week—coming about a year after he was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. The longtime conservative radio host often took time off broadcasting for treatment and regularly provided listeners with updates on his status.

Sean Hannity speaks onstage during the 2019 Politicon at Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 26, 2019. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Politicon

Hannity didn’t elaborate on the nature of the treatments.

“I mean, that to me speaks volumes about him, how much he loved what he did,” he said. “He was born to do this. Nobody did it better. Nobody will do it better,” Hannity added, saying that it was “hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that any major political issue that will come up, we’re not going to hear his voice.”

Limbaugh’s death drew speculation that former President Donald Trump could be tapped to replace him.

“There’s a lot of people that are mentioning that and no, it’s not anything I’ve thought about. But he’d be a hard one to replace. You know, we talked to a friend of yours, Sean Hannity, he said, ‘He’s irreplaceable.’ And I view that too. I say he’s irreplaceable,” Trump said during an interview with Newsmax. “You wouldn’t want to follow Rush, it’s the old story, you get somebody like that, you don’t want to follow him, because some things just can’t be done. He was unique.”

Last year, Trump gave Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his address to Congress.

According to his wife, Limbaugh, 70, died at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.