Sen. Lautenberg Diagnosed With Stomach Cancer

Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey’s 86-year-old senior senator, is set to undergo chemotherapy today, less than 24 hours after being diagnosed with treatable stomach cancer. Lautenberg is expected to recover, and says he still expects to finish out his term, and run for reelection in 2014. “This doesn’t change any of that,” said an aide. “After he receives his treatment, back to normal.”

“We expect a full and complete recovery,” said the senator’s oncologist, explaining that he’ll receive treatments every three weeks, and should be cancer-free after six to eight treatments. Lautenberg was rushed to the hospital Monday after falling over at home. The cause was a bleeding ulcer—an ulcer, tests eventually revealed, that had been caused by b-cell lymphoma of the stomach. (More Frank Lautenberg stories.)