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HARRISBURG - Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll has announced she has a rare form of cancer, but said she was undergoing aggressive treatment for the disease and hoped to return to work next month.
Aides said yesterday that Knoll, 77, learned she had neuroendocrine cancer during a routine visit to her doctor in early July. She has received radiation and is on her second round of chemotherapy.
Knoll's chief of staff, Sal Sirabella, could not say exactly where the cancer had been found or whether it had spread. More tests will be done in the next few weeks to determine that, he said.
On her Web site, Knoll said that she was aggressively fighting the cancer, and that "doctors say I'm responding well. Although the treatments will continue, the outlook is good. I'm optimistic."
In separate statement yesterday, she added: "I fully expect to conduct my duties as lieutenant governor. The next two years in Pennsylvania are going to be exciting as the governor follows through with his agenda on education, the environment and the economy. I intend to be right there to help him."
Knoll, the state's first female lieutenant governor, has decided not to identify her medical team or make her doctors available for public comment. Sirabella did say she was being treated at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
Generally, neuroendocrine tumors affect specialized cells that work to keep many of the body's hormonal and digestive functions in check.
Neuroendocrine tumors occur most commonly in the digestive system - the bowel and the pancreas - but can also occur in the lungs, liver and ovaries, said David Metz, professor of medicine and associate chief for clinical affairs in the division of gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Symptoms vary depending on the type of neuroendocrine tumor. Treatment and life expectancy varies depending on where the tumor is found, what type of hormone it is producing, and whether it has spread, Metz said.
"The thing that concerns me the most is that it's being reported that she is getting radiation and chemotherapy," he said. "That says to me that this is aggressive."
Sirabella said Knoll had not had symptoms before her diagnosis, but had decided to see her doctor after feeling slugging as the state budget was debated in June.
Tests and X-rays promptly led to the diagnosis, and treatment began immediately.
Sirabella said Knoll had called Gov. Rendell in mid-July to tell him that she was "very sick," but did not officially inform him that she had cancer until Saturday.
She made her illness public late Wednesday evening with a statement on her Web site after several reporters inquired about her health.
Sirabella said Knoll had not gone public earlier because she wanted to ensure that all members of her extended family knew about the cancer before news hit the papers.
She has not been at work since her diagnosis, Sirabella said, but has been in close contact with staff. Just yesterday, she cast a vote by phone in her capacity as chairwoman of the state's Pardons Board, he said.
Among the lieutenant governor's duties is presiding over the state Senate, and in her statement Knoll said that in her six years in office she had not missed a single session.
"When the Senate convenes again in September, I will be there, gavel in hand," she said.
Sirabella said Knoll, a native of McKees Rocks in Western Pennsylvania, has been staying at her official residence outside Harrisburg.
"Catherine Baker Knoll is about as energetic a fighter as I know," Rendell said. "And we have high hopes that she'll be able to overcome this."
Inquirer staff writer Jeff Shields contributed to this article.
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