First Lady Melania Trump applauds gallery guest Rush Limbaugh after presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
Diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, Rush Limbaugh explains how he now understands how Lou Gehrig felt when Lou was diagnosed with ALS in the 1930s. Lou had been the Iron Man who had played in all those consecutive baseball games. Gehrig’c record wasn’t broken until Cal Ripken, Jr. game along.
From Rush Limbaugh on Lou Gehrig:(RealClearPolitics):
He’s standing at home plate at Yankee Stadium, and he said, after having announced, the world knew, that he had ALS, everybody knew what it was, that it was fatal and there was no chance of recovery, and there still isn’t, by the way. And Lou Gehrig said, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on earth.” I’ve seen that black and white film replayed numerous times in my life.
And don’t misunderstand, I know he meant it. But the first two or three times I heard it I had trouble processing. How in the world can anybody feel lucky after having been told that you have a disease from which there is no recovery and that it’s fast? And there was a part of me that said, “Okay. This is something that famous people are supposed to say. He’s been very successful in life. He was uniquely talented to play baseball and all that.” And I thought, “Okay. Clearly there is a portion of Lou Gehrig that thinks he has to say this.”
And now I know that’s all wrong. Now I know that there was nothing forced or phony or public-relations-related about it because I feel the same way. I cannot thank all of the people that I have heard from since Monday, and they are still getting a hold of me. There are people I had no idea they knew how to get a hold of me. And the sentiments, the thoughts they’re expressing are just incredibly nice and supportive.
And to have this kind of support and to know it, to be fully aware of it, yeah, it does make me one of the luckiest people alive. I’m trying to respond to everybody. I haven’t even made a dent in it. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to, but I’m going to try. Some people have written three or four times.
And other people are suggesting, “Hey, I know this treatment, I know this hospital, I know this treatment place. You need to call.” I thank you for all of that. I am just inundated with so much love and support, more than I ever knew. And it’s really true, when I sit here, think about how lucky I am that all of this has happened to me.
Now, I know many of you want to know the story of the State of the Union address on Tuesday night and how that all happened, and someday I hope to be able to tell you the entire story. I can’t tell you the entire story now without divulging medical details that I, frankly, don’t want to give. I don’t want to give people an opportunity to start investigating and writing about and pronouncing opinions and this kind of thing. People know enough about what I have.
Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk show host, announced that he has been diagnosed with late-stage advanced lung cancer. Rush is optimistic, however, saying there’s good news associated with the diagnosis and the treatment.
So we are where I am to have the first procedure that will set up the beginning of treatment. This is Tuesday, and it is scheduled for 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Kathryn and Rush took no clothes, he explains: “We went Grub City with shorts, T-shirts. I mean, the whole week’s gonna be in the hospital.”
At 9 a.m., the phone rings. I’ve got the number in my address book. So it’s the White House. I answered the phone, and they said, “Can you hold for President Trump?”
Trump: “Rush! Rush! How you doing, buddy? Great to hear from you! Hey, look, what are you doing later today?”
Rush: “Well, I have a serious medical procedure that’s gonna start — all this — at 5 o’clock.”
Trump: “Well, look, what’s the doctor’s name? I want to call him and have him delay it for a couple days ’cause I need you down here tonight.”
“Look, your health comes first; there’s no question. But can’t they just do half of what they’re gonna do and then send you down here? Believe me, you don’t want to miss this. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be great. You don’t want to miss this.”
Rush: “I mean, there’s no way to even get there even if I want to, unless we charter. We could do that. But no clothes, no shirt, no tie, no socks, no dress shoes. Zip, zero, nada.”
Kathryn: “You’ve got to do this! You can’t not do this.”
Rush, “How are we gonna do it?”
Kathryn, “Leave it to me.”
Rush:
There simply is nothing you can’t do. There’s nothing that can’t be done, and there’s not a single obstacle that can’t be dealt with — and it’s not even hard. It’s not even… He didn’t have to stop and think for a moment about this. Now, granted he’s got presidential power. If he wants to clear us into Reagan National, if he wants to send a car for us and get us from the airport to the White House, he can do all of that — and he did, and he was willing.
So Kathryn… This was amazing too. Kathryn (Rush’s wife) got in gear and (again, without divulging too much), we went and met the doctor. We kept the appointment at noon to discuss what was gonna happen. We signed the papers, get as much of the procedure out of the way as we could, and then tell the doctor, “Hey, I have been summoned to Washington. Can this be moved to tomorrow?”
“Sure! It’s not a problem. In fact, show up at 5:30 tomorrow morning before anybody else gets here. We’ll get it started; we’ll get it rolling.” Everybody was just as cooperative and helpful as they could be. We get back from the meeting with the doctors in about two hours, and in our hotel room is 15 sport coats of different sizes, four or five different ties, a bunch of shirts of different sizes, and all I had to do was try on various things and find an outfit that fit.
For more on how this amazing event unfolded, click here.
Debbie Young
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