Civil rights hero John Lewis has pancreatic cancer
Civil rights hero and U.S. lawmaker John Lewis says he has stage four pancreatic cancer.
The 79-year-old congressman from Georgia also says he'll undergo treatment.
In a Sunday (December 29) statement... Lewis said doctors diagnosed him during a routine visit.
And that quote,"I have been in some kind of fight - for freedom, equality, basic human rights - for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now."
The lawmaker says doctors have told him he has a fighting chance.
Lewis has represented Georgia's fifth district since for more than three decades as a Democrat to the U.S. House.
He endured beatings by white police and mobs during the 1960s civil rights movement and was the youngest speaker at the same Washington march where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
Lewis says he'll go to Washington for treatment which will last several weeks.
And told constituents that he may miss a few votes but that quote 'he hopes to be back on the front lines soon.'
