Illness
At the end of July 1998 it was made public that Hussein was diagnosed lymphatic cancer by doctors at the Mayo Clinic. Hussein's lymphoma was of a type that responded to chemotherapy, which the King had already begun and his physicians were optimistic he could be cured. Speaking on Jordanian television via satellite, Hussein reassured the Jordanian people that the cancer was curable. Nevertheless, he looked fragile and pale. It was the 62-year-old monarch's second bout with cancer; he lost a kidney to the disease in 1992.
On his way back to Jordan in January 1999, Hussein stopped in London. Doctors advised him to rest and stay in England for a few weeks, as he was still too fragile to travel. According to Jordanian government sources, Hussein stated that:
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- "I need very much to feel the warmth of my people around me, there is work to be done and I will get the strength from my people to finish the business."
Upon returning to Jordan Hussein was greeted by family members, ministers, parliament members, foreign dignitaries and a crowd of Jordanian citizens, estimated by Jordanian government officials of 2 million.
Read more about this topic: Hussein Of Jordan
Famous quotes containing the word illness:
“The fact that illness is associated with the poor—who are, from the perspective of the privileged, aliens in one’s midst—reinforces the association of illness with the foreign: with an exotic, often primitive place.”
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“...his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Kings 17:17.