John McCain Discontinues Brain Cancer Treatments, Family Says

PHOENIX, AZ — Sen. John McCain has "surpassed expectations for survival," but will discontinue treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer he has been battling for more than a year, the Arizona Republican's family said Friday.

"But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict," they said in a statement. "With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment."

McCain is 81. His 82nd birthday is Aug. 29.

McCain, a war hero, Senate icon and his party's nominee for president in 2008, has been absent from Washington since mid-December, but has remained an active presence from his home outside of Sedona, tweeting somewhat regularly and issuing statements.

Earlier this year, he released a memoir, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations," written from the perspective of a dying man free to speak his mind and vote his conscious without fear of voter backlash.

As news of McCain's decision spread, congressional leaders, colleagues and others expressed their support for the senator and his family on social media.

"Very sad to hear this morning’s update from the family of our dear friend @SenJohnMcCain," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky tweeted. "We are so fortunate to call him our friend and colleague. John, Cindy, and the entire McCain family are in our prayers at this incredibly difficult hour."

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, pointed to McCain's service in the Vietnam War. A Navy pilot who was captured and tortured as a prisoner of war for more than five years, McCain "exemplifies honor, patriotism, service, sacrifice, and country first," Romney said. "His heroism inspires, his life shapes our character."

As the son and grandson of admirals, McCain had the opportunity to be released in a prisoner trade with the North Vietnamese that would have secured his return to the United States, but he refused to be released before others who had been held longer.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey called McCain "an American hero" who is "always putting country before self."

"John McCain personifies service to our country," House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted. "The whole House is keeping John and his family in our prayers during this time."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his "thoughts and prayers are with Senator McCain and his family."

McCain's family says that they are very thankful for the outpouring of support over the past year.

"Our family is immensely grateful for the support and kindness of all his caregivers over the last year, and for the continuing outpouring of concern and affection from John’s many friends and associates, and the many thousands of people who are keeping him in their prayers," they said. "God bless and thank you all."

In a separate statement, Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, added that "we could not have made it this far without you — you've given us strength to carry on."

McCain's wife, Cindy, tweeted that "I love my husband with all my heart."

"God bless everyone who has cared for my husband along this journey," she wrote.

In his memoir, McCain offered a candid assessment of the current state of politics, writing that a stage 4 cancer diagnosis “acts as ungentle persuasion.”

“I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it,” he wrote. “I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment.”

He was clear in his assessment of President Trump, with whom he has had an acrimonious relationship dating back to the 2016 campaign, when then-candidate Trump derided McCain's status as a war hero and said he was only regarded as such because he had been captured.

"He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones," McCain wrote in his memoir. "The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values."

The relationship between the two further soured when McCain cast the deciding vote that killed a 2017 Republican effort to repeal Obamacare.

Earlier this month, when Trump traveled to Fort Drum in New York to sign a defense spending bill that senators had named in honor of McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Trump refused to mention the senator's name.

During his time at his ranch, McCain has received a steady stream of visitors from both sides of the aisle including his good friends, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham and former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

McCain's relationship with Biden goes back more than 45 years and their families are very close. Biden's son, Beau, died of the same form of brain cancer McCain has battled.

When he dies, McCain will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon says that he will receive full military honors.

Photo of McCain via Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images