Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital on Tuesday following emergency surgery to remove a pair of malignant tumors from her lungs.
“Justice Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital yesterday and is recuperating at home,” said Kathy Arberg, a public affairs officer representing the high court.
Speedy recovery
Ginsburg has demonstrated remarkable resilience over the years, surviving battles with colon and pancreatic cancer in 1999 and 2009, respectively. Besides beating one of the deadliest forms of cancer, which Ginsburg attributes to doctors from the National Institutes of Health who detected her disease at a “very early stage,” the oldest member of the Supreme Court has also recovered from multiple incidences of broken ribs and a heart procedure.
This time, however, Ginsburg has had two nodules removed from her left lung in a procedure known as a pulmonary lobectomy. The cancerous growths were only discovered in November after the liberal icon fractured her ribs in a fall, and she reported to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Friday to have them removed.
Following the procedure, Arberg was pleased to report that doctors found “no evidence of remaining disease” and no signs of cancer “elsewhere in the body.” A pre-operation scan also indicated that the cancer was localized to Ginsburg’s left lung.
The Notorious RBG
But the “Notorious RBG” isn’t about to let her third cancer diagnosis keep her from the serious work of interpreting the Constitution. The octogenarian hasn’t missed a single day of oral arguments in her 25-year Supreme Court career, cementing her legendary status as a fierce and unyielding jurist.
In fact, Ginsburg didn’t miss a day in court following surgeries to treat her colon and pancreatic cancer diagnoses, and she didn’t let multiple cracked ribs keep her in bed for more than a few days last month. Even at the advanced age of 85, Ginsburg attends rigorous physical training sessions twice a week in her trademark “Super Diva” sweatshirt with personal trainer Bryant Johnson.
Bryant calls his client “tough as nails” and “a cyborg” for her uncanny ability to recover from injury and illness, and he even compares Ginsburg’s drive and energy to many of the young soldiers he trains as a fitness instructor for the U.S. Army Reserve. According to him, the judge regularly endures a challenging regimen of squats, planks, and pushups that would have able-bodied young men calling for mercy.
“One tough cookie”
In an interview five years ago, Ginsburg insisted that she would remain on the bench “as long as I can do the job full-steam, and that, at my age, is not predictable.”
But “Justice Ginsburg is one tough cookie,” says filmmaker Betsy West, who directed a documentary on the liberal folk hero this year. “She has overcome challenges that would have felled many lesser people.”
Ginsburg has promised to serve at least another five years, a pledge that would see the justice retiring at age 90 and that would guarantee that the current Republican administration would not be in office to select her replacement.
With her uncanny ability to fight through health problems that would confine most people half her age to their hospital beds, there is no reason to doubt that Ginsburg will reach this milestone — if she can help it.
No comments: