Lula Begins Chemotherapy as Cancer Undermines Political Future
October 30, 2011, 11:07 PM EDT
By Alexander Cuadros and Andre Soliani
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who stepped down this year as Brazil’s most popular president ever, will begin chemotherapy treatment today to eradicate a cancerous tumor in his throat that is undermining speculation he’ll try to regain power in 2014.
Doctors found a 2-3 centimeter tumor in Lula’s throat Oct. 29, two days after he celebrated his 66th birthday. The cancer was detected early and won’t require surgery, which would’ve put at risk his ability to speak, though three sessions of outpatient chemotherapy means he may lose his hair and the trademark beard he’s worn since gaining prominence as a union leader in the 1980s.
Lula, in two terms atop what is now the world’s seventh- largest economy, helped lift 21 million Brazilians from poverty as unemployment fell to a record low and the inflation rate fell by more than half. He left office with an approval rating of 87 percent and remains a towering figure in Brazilian politics. Friends and foes alike have speculated he’ll run for president again in 2014 after a constitutional ban on three straight terms led him to back Dilma Rousseff as his handpicked successor.
Rousseff, citing her own battle with lymphoma in 2009, said she was confident Lula would make a full recovery.
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