Ruth Bader Ginsburg has not only overcome the challenges of being the second-ever female Supreme Court justice, but also extreme health issues. Over the last twenty years, Justice Ginsburg has suffered through multiple falls in her home, pancreatic cancer and colon cancer.
Over the summer of 2019, Ginsburg had radiation treatment for a pancreatic tumor. After this treatment, a note from the Supreme Court said that “there is no evidence of disease anywhere else in the body.” Ten years prior, in 2009, she went through treatment for pancreatic cancer. At the time, a cure was extremely rare, but doctors detected her cancer in time to remove it through surgery. The American Cancer Society says that only about 9% of patients die from pancreatic cancer. Justice Ginsburg has overcome this cancer not once, but twice.
Justice Ginsburg fell in her home in both 2012 and 2013 and suffered from broken ribs. In November of 2018, she fell again and fractured three of her ribs. While at the hospital, her doctors discovered and removed two cancerous lesions from Justice Ginsburg’s left lung.
In 1999, Justice Ginsburg was diagnosed with colon cancer. After going into the doctor for an unrelated issue, the cancer was discovered in the second of four stages. After treatment including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she continued on. Justice Ginsburg was 66 at the time. Despite these obstacles, she has never missed a day of work, even voting from her hospital bed when needed. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is admired for her feminism, her ability to grow into being a pop culture icon, and we must not forget, her ability to overcome any health battle that has come her way.
By Sarah Karboski, Contributing Writer
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