Bush press secretary's cancer has come back

WASHINGTON — When President Bush asked Tony Snow to become his press secretary last year, Snow didn't agree until his doctors told him there were no signs of the colon cancer for which he had been treated in 2005.

Based on that assurance, he accepted one of the most demanding jobs in Washington.

But early Tuesday morning, Snow told Bush that the cancer had returned and had spread to his liver.

The report of the recurrence saddened the White House staff, which has come to count on the former Fox News commentator to convey the administration's views to an increasingly skeptical public and, as the personable face of the White House, to defend it against daily challenges from the Democratic Congress.

"He is not going to let this whip him, and he's upbeat," Bush told reporters in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday morning. "And so my message to Tony is, 'Stay strong; a lot of people love you and care for you and will pray for you.' "

The disclosure of Snow's diagnosis followed Thursday's announcement that Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, was about to begin treatment for a recurrence of breast cancer, even as she and her husband continued to campaign.

Snow's response that day was emotional: "Elizabeth Edwards is setting a powerful example for a lot of people, and a good and positive one," he said.

The next day, he announced he was undergoing surgery Monday for a small growth in his abdomen. All tests were negative for cancer, he told reporters, but he was having it removed "out of an aggressive sense of caution."

On Tuesday morning, Snow's deputy, Dana Perino, paused to regain her composure and dabbed at her eyes as she revealed her boss' condition just moments after speaking with him.

Doctors determined the growth was cancerous and the cancer had metastasized, or spread, to the liver. The cancer has attached to the liver but is not in the liver, Perino said.

Snow's staff and outside medical experts said recovery from the surgery alone would take at least four weeks. He will have chemotherapy as well, Perino said.

Recalling Snow's kind words about his wife last week, Edwards issued a statement Tuesday praising him as "an incredible example for people living with cancer and cancer survivors — he lives every day to the fullest and faces every challenge with courage and determination."

Snow and his wife, Jill, have children ages 10, 11 and 14. In February 2005, after he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, surgeons removed his colon and reconstructed his small intestine to replace it. He also received chemotherapy for six months.

About 60 percent of patients with stage 3 colon cancer survive five years after initial treatment, Dr. Harmon J. Eyre, the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said in a statement. That designation indicates that the disease has spread to nearby lymph nodes.

In some cases, said Dr. Lee Rosen, a specialist in gastrointestinal cancers, tumors either can be shrunk by chemotherapy and removed surgically or can be kept from growing. Side effects in some patients might include nausea, vomiting and fatigue; in others the treatment is less debilitating and patients are able to work full time.

Snow's job often requires him to leave his home in Alexandria, Va., before dawn and return home after dark. In a White House under political siege in the wake of the November election and setbacks in Iraq, he is not only the person who delivers the administration's message each day but a key behind-the-scenes adviser on how to persuade the American public of the president's course. He is Bush's third press secretary, following Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Snow, 51, combines skills honed during his work for Fox News and as a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and the passion of a conservative advocate accustomed to expressing his views as a newspaper editorial writer.

"He says it is the best job he's ever had," Perino said. "He, in fact, has called it 'communications Disneyland.' So he loves the job, and I think, his intention, of course, is to come back."

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.