Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She's 'Alive' And On The 'Way To Being Very Well'
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday assured the public that she is moving ahead on the road to recovery from pancreatic cancer after undergoing treatment in early August.
During a Q&A at this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival, the 86-year-old legal icon was welcomed to the stage where she told the crowd she is confident she will be back to work soon.
“As this audience can see, I am alive,” she said, being met with thunderous applause. “And I’m on my way to being very well.”
The event’s moderator, NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, then questioned why Ginsburg was attending the festival rather than resting up for the court to return from its summer recess, but Ginsburg brushed off any concerns over her R&R.
“The term, we have more than a month yet to go,” she said. “I’ll be prepared when the time comes.”
Last week, the Supreme Court announced that the justice had wrapped up a three-week round of radiation therapy for a tumor on her pancreas at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In its statement, the court said Ginsburg “tolerated treatment well,” and other than canceling her annual trip to Santa Fe, she “otherwise maintained an active schedule.”
There is currently “no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body,” the court added. “No further treatment is needed at this time.”
On Monday, Ginsburg made her first public appearance since finishing treatment, receiving an honorary degree from the University at Buffalo where she appeared strong and healthy.
One thing that has sustained her, she said Saturday, is her love of career.
“It’s the best and the hardest job I ever had, and it’s what has kept me going through four cancer bouts. Instead of concentrating on my aches and pains I just know I have to read this set of briefs, draft opinions. So I have to surmount whatever is going on in my body and concentrate on the court’s work.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
