California governor undergoing cancer care

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Jerry Brown is receiving radiation treatment for early stage prostate cancer, his office announced Wednesday.

The 74-year-old governor is undergoing “conventional radiotherapy” and maintaining a full work schedule during the treatment, according to a statement released by the governor’s office.

“Fortunately, this is early stage localized prostate cancer,” Dr. Eric Small, Brown’s oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said in the statement. “The prognosis is excellent, and there are not expected to be any significant side effects.”

The governor’s office said the treatment will be completed the week of Jan. 7, about the time Brown is expected to unveil his proposed budget and deliver a State of the State address.

Brown’s spokesman Gil Duran declined to provide details about when the governor was diagnosed, what form of radiotherapy he is receiving and the stage of his cancer.

This is the governor’s second bout with cancer during his return engagement as California’s chief executive. Last year, he had a cancerous growth removed from the right side of his nose and some reconstructive surgery. He had been treated for the same type of cancer – basal cell carcinoma – in 2008.

Brown’s most recent diagnosis is a blow to his healthy image. At 74, he is California’s oldest governor and has gone out of his way to show that his age and health are of no concern. He has challenged reporters to pull-up contests – and won – jogs in the Oakland hills and around the Capitol, and he boasts of his running time.