|
|
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
|
|
Rep. Dallas Sams has malignant brain tumor
Associate Editor The malignant brain tumor Sen. Dallas Sams suffered this legislative session gave him personal insight into how fast health problems can change a person's life.
"It focuses your mind on the things that are really most important -- family, friends and priorities in life," the Staples DFLer said Tuesday.
It also made him even more determined to fight against the cuts Gov. Tim Pawlenty has proposed for the state's MnCare system, a health insurance program partly funded by the program's working clients who are employed by firms that don't offer health insurance.
The MnCare system, Sams said, makes health coverage a possibility so individuals can often avoid expensive, last-resort trips to the emergency room. Sams said the governor seeks to transfer money previously dedicated for MnCare to the general fund to balance the budget.
"What happens to a family that does not have health care?" the one-time dairy farmer asked. "If they have any assets at all, they're going to lose it all."
The first signs of Sams' brain tumor became evident Feb. 7, when he suffered what he described as a grand mal seizure at his Capitol office and was taken to a St. Paul hospital by ambulance.
Since then he has completed 33 radiation sessions at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, finished the first round of chemotherapy, and underwent brain surgery.
"They think the surgery was successful," Sams said, adding that he underwent surgery on a Friday and was back in the Senate chambers in three days. "It's amazing."
He estimated he has only missed about five days of the legislative sessions despite a series of early morning trips to Rochester for treatment. Doctors have been attempting to make sure no radical cells have spread beyond the tumor, he said.
Sams is scheduled to resume chemotherapy, at a higher dosage, on June 17.
Elected in 1990, Sams said he has been gratified by the good wishes and deeds of staff, friends, family and legislators on both sides of the aisle.
In Sunday's Star Tribune column "Inside Talk," the newspaper reported that Senate Minority Leader Dick Day was one of the lawmakers who has driven Sams to the Mayo Clinic for his daily treatments. Part of Day's job, the newspaper reported, is to recruit candidates against DFLers in swing districts such as Sams' District 11 seat.
"I've been to his kid's graduation," Day said in the Tribune. "He's known since 1997, when I took control, that I need his seat ... but he's going through some really tough times, and this is bigger than politics or balancing the budget or digging at each other on the floor."
Sams said the brain surgeons had to be careful since their probe was near the areas where his speech and language are centered. He said he sometimes has difficulty expressing himself but has not experienced any serious problems.
Sams is a member of the working group dealing with the bill on the environment, agriculture and economic development. He said he objected to the governor's plans to transfer appointing authority for the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources from the Legislature to the governor. The commission is the body that decides where the state lottery money is spent.
MIKE O'ROURKE can be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
|
|
|
Thinking about a New Job?
These employers want you!
|
|
Schools has an opening fo...
|
|
not a
9-5 person,
how about
11-2, 4-...
|
|
CASH!!
Independent Carrier need...
|
|
position plans sales trai...
|
|
is hiring for the following
...
|
|
|
|
Bids Being Accepted
call...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today's Best Classifieds:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mostly Clear, 80°
