Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, March 27, 2007

Kevin.

Q Dana, do you have a sense of how his treatment might differ this time, versus the first occurrence of cancer?

MS. PERINO: I don't. I know that he's working with the same doctors, at least a core of the same doctors that he worked with before. And, so, obviously, they were successful in their first attempts to beat it back those couple years ago. I think it was just last month that he had reached the two-year mark of being cancer free.

So he just said that he's in consultations with his doctors, and I think that they'll -- it will take some time, I think, for them to figure out what's the best course of treatment. But as soon as I can tell you, and to the extent that he's comfortable with me being able to share that with you, I will do so.

Q Dana, where other than the liver? You said metastases, plural.

MS. PERINO: I don't know, he didn't say.

Jonathan.

Q Dana, just two questions. One, when was this growth first detected? And then a question about the first episode. Do you know at what stage the cancer was at the time in 2005 that it had actually penetrated --

MS. PERINO: Stage 3, that first -- when he was first diagnosed those years ago, it was stage 3. I do not know which stage this cancer is that they found.

Q But when was it that they first detected the growth?

MS. PERINO: This new growth?

Q The new growth, yes.

MS. PERINO: All I know is that he said, "in a recent series of CAT scans and PET scans and MRIs, we have found a small growth in my lower abdomen." I don't know specifically, but I do know that as a cancer patient, and many others who either have cancer patients in their family or are survivors themselves, you get regular checkups. And he would go in for a checkup every three to four months. And I believe that this goes back -- maybe just a couple of the tests before that. They've been keeping an eye on this growth.

Q How big was the growth, Dana?

MS. PERINO: On Friday he said that it was about the size of the tip of his pinky finger. And so -- his pinky finger is probably a little larger than mine.

Q And do you have any information on his family? Obviously, his wife and his children --

MS. PERINO: I don't. I know that Jill Snow, his wife, was with him at the hospital today when I spoke to her. Obviously, this is a family that has been through a lot. And they -- I have never seen such a close-knit family. They really just love each other so much. They're very supportive. Being a Press Secretary of the United States -- to the President of the United States is not an easy job, but Tony really cut out time for his family whenever he possibly could and they were very close. And so I'm sure that this is difficult for them. And I know that they appreciate all the prayers that people are offering.

Q Did he express that he was feeling ill prior to the surgery, or anything that might have been -- looking back now --

MS. PERINO: No, he said that he felt fine. He said he felt fine.

Helen.

Q How does the President feel about his Republicans on the Hill tossing the ball back to him and letting him hold the bag, basically, on a veto on pullout, which is against the will of the American people?