Kennedy focuses on legacy as he battles brain cancer

BOSTON — Between doctors' appointments, Edward Kennedy has been working the phones, urging Senate colleagues to pass a health care bill. He's trying to finish his memoirs. And he's overseeing the design of a namesake building to stand next to his brother's presidential library.

A year after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, the 77-year-old last surviving Kennedy brother has defied some doctors' expectations and worked steadily to cement his personal and political legacies.

"He's taken about every bit of human tragedy you could and nothing has stopped his human purpose for what we are all here to do," said Paul Kirk, a longtime family friend and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Kennedy learned he had a malignant tumor called a glioma after suffering a seizure on May 17, 2008, at his home in Hyannis Port. The prognosis was grim: Median survival for the worst form of gliomas is 12 to 15 months, although the time depends on the type of glioma. Kennedy has not released the specifics of his diagnosis.

After he was diagnosed, Kennedy gathered top cancer specialists and slipped away to North Carolina to undergo an aggressive, risky surgery.

Just a month later, he returned triumphantly to the Senate to cast a dramatic and decisive vote on a Medicare bill. Then in January, Kennedy donned a fedora and fulfilled his promise to attend Barack Obama's inauguration as president.

But his collapse at a celebratory lunch after the swearing-in was a vivid reminder of Kennedy's frailty since the seizure.

Doctors blamed the senator's collapse on fatigue from being outside in the cold for the ceremony, but the episode also underscored the urgency behind Kennedy's efforts to secure his legacy during the past 12 months.

Kennedy's memoir, "True Compass," is scheduled to come out this fall. In addition to the book, Kennedy has been completing the final phase of an oral history project for the University of Virginia.

And he's monitored the design of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, which will seek to educate the public about the Senate. Groundbreaking is expected later this year on a site next to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

"The intellectual pace and the energy pace in terms of his drive hasn't changed that much," Kirk said. "What has changed is he's wisely conserving his physical energy."