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Meghan McCain Stays Strong In The Face Of Her Father's Cancer Diagnosis

by Katherine Speller
Robin Marchant/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Following the announcement on Wednesday that the Arizona senator and former presidential candidate was diagnosed with brain cancer, Sen. John McCain's daughter Meghan McCain released a statement about her father's condition. Meghan McCain, a commentator on Fox News, touched on her father's previous experiences with cancer via Twitter and assured that the member of her family "who is most confident and calm" in face of the diagnosis is McCain himself.

McCain said she and her family are grateful for thoughts and prayers during this time and gave a touching tribute to her father's strength in the face of many challenges — in his military, political and personal life — as "a warrior at dusk." In her heartfelt tribute, she wrote:

My love for my father is boundless, and like any daughter I cannot and do not wish to be in a world without him. I have faith that those days remain far away. Yet even in this moment, my fears for him are overwhelmed by one thing above all: gratitude for our years together, and the years still to come. He is a warrior at dusk, one of the greatest Americans of our age, and the worthy heir to his father’s and grandfather’s name. But to me, he is something more. He is my strength, my example, my refuge, my confidante, my teacher, my rock, my hero — my dad.

As Meghan mentioned in her statement, her family has "endured the shock" of the news despite being familiar with the experience — her father had previously had skin cancer, having had a melanoma removed via surgery in August 2000.

It is an experience familiar to us, given my father's previous battle with cancer — and it is familiar to the countless American families whose loved ones are also stricken with the tragedy of disease and the inevitability of age. If we could ask anything of anyone now, it would be the prayers of those of you who understand this all too well. We would be so grateful for them.

McCain described her father as "the toughest person [she knows]" and said he is "meeting this challenge as he has every other."

"Cancer may afflict him in may ways," she continued, "but it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has."

Sen. McCain's diagnosis was announced on Wednesday night via a statement from his office, explaining that a tumor — called a glioblastoma— was found in his brain following a minor surgery to remove a blood clot last week. The statement also assured that McCain "is confident that any future treatment will be effective" and "is in good spirits" as he recovers from his surgery at home with his family.