Over the weekend, we shared the efforts of local parents Indira Lakshmanan and Dermot Tatlow, who have been desperately seeking a bone marrow or blood cord match for their 4-year-old son, Devan. Devan has been battling a rare form of high-risk leukemia, and due to his genetic makeup, the odds of finding a match were rather long. But thanks to an extraordinary PR push that reached all the way from local blogs and TV news to Paris Hilton's Twitter account, there's a glimmer of hope today on matchdevan.com. A message posted by Devan's parents last night says that they may have found a blood cord match, and are awaiting final confirmation. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed. more ›

We don't do a whole lot of PSAs here at DCist, but there's something about a kid with life-threatening cancer that finds us making an exception. more ›

DCRTV.com is reporting that legendary sportscaster George Michael, who was well-known nationally for his syndicated program "The George Michael Sports Machine," and beloved in D.C. for his work with NBC4/WRC, has passed away at the age of 70. Michael had been battling cancer for two years. A Channel 4 reporter confirmed the news to the Washington Post this morning. more ›

The Post's Nikita Stewart reports what members of the D.C. Council apparently already knew, but the public did not: Ward 3 D.C. Council member Mary Cheh was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. Cheh has already undergone radiation treatment and a lumpectomy at Sibley Memorial Hospital, and told Stewart that her doctors have said her prognosis is good (she'll continue to be treated with drugs for the next five years). The Council member said she is disclosing her illness to draw attention to the need for women to be tested often. "I want to be a poster child for early detection," she told the Post. more ›

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that conservative columnist Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement. He told the paper that his recent diagnosis of a brain tumor was "dire." Novak was involved in an accident on July 23 when he hit a pedestrian with his car and drove away. He was stopped a short distance later by a bicyclist who witnessed the incident. Novak claimed he didn't realize he had hit someone. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor the following Sunday, July 27. more ›

Just days after he hit a pedestrian with his car here in D.C., conservative columnist Robert Novak has announced that he has a brain tumor. Novak's paper, the Chicago Sun-Times, reported the news earlier today.

Novak said he was diagnosed on Sunday with a brain tumor and will soon begin treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He issued the following statement: more ›

If the measure of a good film is that you're still thinking about it days later, then In the Family is the best movie I've seen all year. But in no small way was this documentary, directed by filmmaker Joanna Rudnick, more or less tailor made to hit someone like me square in the jaw. Rudnick, all of 27 when she first began this film five years ago, chronicles her own personal decision making process after testing positive for one of the BRCA gene mutations -- the genes that predict an excessively high risk of developing hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer. Rudnick's mother had ovarian cancer, her grandmother had breast cancer, and thanks to advances in medical science, she now knows she's more than likely to get one or both of those over the course of her lifetime. Many women who have tested positive for the mutation have opted to have their breasts and ovaries removed to eliminate the risk of cancer. But when you're still young, unmarried and want to have children one day, what do you do? more ›

First: Good news from Duke, where Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) underwent what his doctors are calling "successful" surgery today on a malignant brain tumor. While the initial announcement of Kennedy's condition and potential treatment a couple of weeks ago did not include surgery as a likely option for the 76-year-old senator, Kennedy went forward with the aggressive procedure this morning. It has yet to be revealed exactly how much of the tumor surgeons were able to remove from Kennedy's brain, but surgery of this kind is meant to improve a patient's chances to have successful radiation treatment. A Kennedy family spokesperson told reporters that the senator was doing well, even telling his wife shortly after that he felt "like a million bucks." more ›

The Associated Press is reporting that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. more ›