Reassurances

Kennedy Health Update

Senator says he doesn’t “plan to go away soon.”

With reports of Ted Kennedy’s imminent death proliferating, his family has had enough of “the premature eulogizing.” Yes, the Massachusetts senator, who turns 77 Sunday, has brain cancer, and he’s been “touched and grateful” for all the support. But in a phone interview with The New York Times from Miami, where he’s spending the winter, Kennedy says: “Beyond that, I don’t really plan to go away soon.” He’s still focused on overhauling the nation’s health care system, still goes sailing, and is still undergoing chemotherapy. “What has been essential to his recovery and motivation has been setting goals,” says his doctor, Lawrence Horowitz. His first after surgery? Speaking at the DNC. After that? Attending the inauguration. Next up? “Now his goal is to play a central role in health care reform,” Horowitz says. “That’s what keeps him going.”