Brain Tumor Diagnosis and Resignation
On July 23, 2008, Novak received a citation from police for "failing to yield a right of way" to an 86-year-old pedestrian, Don Clifford Liljenquist, who was hit by Novak's Corvette in slow-moving traffic. Novak drove approximately one block from the scene before being flagged down by a cyclist who had witnessed the accident and subsequently called the police. Novak said that he was unaware that a collision had occurred until being informed by eyewitnesses. This is likely to be accurate, as it is typical in patients with non-dominant (usually right-sided) brain tumors that cause left sided visual problems (including visual neglect), which Novak had ("I have lost not only left peripheral vision but nearly all my left vision"). The pedestrian was taken to George Washington University Hospital and treated for a dislocated shoulder.
On July 27, 2008, just days after the car accident, Novak was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a written statement given to his publisher, Novak said: “Doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period.” Physicians often check for brain tumors in patients who didn't realize they struck something in a car accident, as this can be a focal neurologic sign. Novak tendered his resignation from his column on August 4, 2008 after revealing that the prognosis on his tumor was considered "dire". Later that month, he began writing new opinion columns for Creators Syndicate.
On February 4, 2009, Novak announced in his newsletter, the Evans-Novak Political Report, that the biweekly newsletter would be coming to an end due to his illness. The newsletter, started four years after the column, had been published continuously since 1967.
Novak died on August 18, 2009, due to complications from brain cancer. He had returned home to spend his last days with his family after being hospitalized from July 10 to July 24.
Read more about this topic: Robert Novak
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