Raskin shares health update: ‘Chemotherapy has extinguished the cancer cells’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has said Friday will be his final treatment of chemotherapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which he was diagnosed with late last year.

“On Friday is my very last session. The doctors tell me the chemotherapy has extinguished the cancer cells, at least as far as they can tell,” Raskin said Thursday in a virtual event with the Progressive Change Institute. 

“It’s almost extinguished me in the process, but I’m hanging in there. I’m gonna make it through,” the congressman said. He quipped that doctors have promised him that “my eyelashes and my eyebrows and my hair will come back one day soon, so fingers crossed there.” 

Raskin revealed his cancer diagnosis in December, calling his illness a “serious but curable form of cancer” — a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 

He began chemo-immunotherapy at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and has continued to work throughout his treatment. The lawmaker began sporting bandanas he’s called “chemo head-cover fashions” as he dealt with hair loss from the treatment.

He announced in February he was halfway through the treatment process.