Sen. Dodd has prostate cancer

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd said Friday that he has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and will have surgery in early August, but the prognosis is good and the illness will not affect his plans to seek a sixth term next year.

Dodd said evidence of possible cancer was detected in June during his annual physical and later confirmed by a biopsy. He said he plans to have surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York shortly after Congress adjourns next week and is "very confident we're going to come out of this well."

Dodd, with wife Jackie Clegg Dodd, a native of Orem, by his side, said he feels fine and expects to return to a full schedule at the end of August.

"I'm running for re-election. I'll be a little leaner, a little meaner, but I'm running," Dodd told reporters, friends and supporters who gathered at his Hartford office.

He later quipped: "I'll be running without a prostate."

The 65-year-old Democrat is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and is playing a lead role in Congress' attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system. He said he will continue to be actively involved in those negotiations.

Dodd took that role while his close friend, Senate Health Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts fights his own battle with brain cancer.

Dodd said he has kept his diagnosis quiet for weeks, consulting only with doctors and a few fellow senators who have had prostate cancer. He decided not to tell Kennedy until Thursday because of his own health problems.

Dodd said he also didn't inform some family members right away because his sister, Martha Dodd Buonanno, was suffering from lung cancer. She died July 6.

Dodd said he decided Thursday night to choose surgery over other treatment options.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men in the United States, affecting about 6.4 out of every 100 men in Dodd's age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. William K. Kelly, who heads the prostate and urologic cancers program at the Yale Cancer Center, said the prostate-removal surgery that Dodd is seeking shows the cancer is localized and has not spread.

"He should do very well," Kelly said. "He should have a good recovery and should be very functional after several weeks."