Charles Krauthammer (Courtesy photo)

One of the Tyler Paper’s most popular syndicated columnists, Charles Krauthammer, has announced in a letter to Fox News that he has weeks to live.

The political analyst’s columns have been absent from the Tyler Morning Telegraph and hundreds of other newspapers across the country for nearly a year while he battled an abdominal tumor and subsequent complications, the network reported.

The 68-year-old sent a letter to his colleagues at Fox News, where he was a political commentator. In it, he detailed his cancer prognosis.

“This is the final verdict. My fight is over,” he wrote to Fox News.

Charles Krauthammer was involved in a diving accident during his first year of medical school and has used a wheelchair since.

He completed his medical degree and became a psychiatrist. On paper, he still is, but hasn’t practiced medicine in decades. He worked for the Carter administration and was a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale.

He later became a writer for a number of national publications, won a Pulitzer Prize, and had a syndicated column in 400 newspapers and is ubiquitous on Fox News.

In his sobering farewell, Krauthammer said he is “grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation’s destiny,” Fox News reported.

“I leave this life with no regrets,” Krauthammer wrote to the network. “It was a wonderful life – full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.”

Krauthammer visited Tyler in 2014 and 2016, speaking to sold-out crowds at UT Tyler’s Cowan Center.  

Krauthammer’s full letter:

“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past 10 months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.

In August of last year, I underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my abdomen. That operation was thought to have been a success, but it caused a cascade of secondary complications — which I have been fighting in hospital ever since. It was a long and hard fight with many setbacks, but I was steadily, if slowly, overcoming each obstacle along the way and gradually making my way back to health.

However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned. There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.

I wish to thank my doctors and caregivers, whose efforts have been magnificent. My dear friends, who have given me a lifetime of memories and whose support has sustained me through these difficult months. And all of my partners at The Washington Post, Fox News, and Crown Publishing.

Lastly, I thank my colleagues, my readers, and my viewers, who have made my career possible and given consequence to my life’s work. I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking. I am grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation’s destiny.

I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.”

Charles Krauthammer’s email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com.