A Greco-Irish Tragedi in Three Brotherly Acts

Kennedy Successor To Be Chosen By Special Election

'Problem by problem,' Kennedy transformed himself

By JOHN F. HARRIS & ALEXANDER BURNS | 8/26/09 8:46 PM

From Al Jazeera:

A 2009 survey by The Hill, a publication following politics on Capitol Hill, found that senate Republicans believed Kennedy was the chamber's easiest Democrat to work with and the most bipartisan.

Barack Obama, left, said that he valued Kennedy's 'wise counsel' [AFP]

"I am a Republican and he was a Democrat, but we were friends," Jack Burkman, a Republican party strategist, said.

"He was one of the few people in the United States senate who could genuinely reach across the aisle and bring Democrats and Republicans together," he told Al Jazeera from Los Angeles.

"There are a lot of people who claim to be able to do this, but there really are only two or three.

"I think America needs more Ted Kennedys, people who believe passionately in what they believe in."

For those who do not understand Sen. Kennedy’s illness, he died of one of the worst tumors that exist: “Glioblastoma multiforme.” This is a horrible killer. Death from ” Glio”is painful and the loss of ones own brain in an aware individual hard to describe.

For reasons I do not understand, I have lost a number of admired colleagues to this evil fate. Some of you may have known one of these folks, Hal Weintraub. One of the building at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is named for Hal Weintraub, one of the smartest scientists and best people I have ever known .. a person whose own research at the utch and at the UW has already saved many lives.

There is, however, a small bit of good news. Recently the drug Avastin has shown some promise. Avastin was developed as an “anti tumor angiogeneisis drug” at Genentech by another friend, Napoleon Ferrara … a name many of us hope to see in the Nobel announcement some October.

The effect is small, extending life rather tha saving it.

The hope, however is large because once we find a limited effect, we can work with the drug to optimize it and .. maybe .. even save lives.

I am fairly certain mr. Kennedy received Avastin as an experimental drug and if so, future victims of this horrid disease owe him one more “thank you.”