The veteran politician and diplomat revealed in a wide interview that he is battling cancer.
READ MORE: Huntsman Reportedly Refuses to Resign Amid Calls to Quit Over Helsinki Summit
“It’s just stage one,” Huntsman told the paper. “So we’ll probably get it taken care of, and we’ll be fine.”
He told the newspaper that he had some growths removed at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City and that the doctors there had made the discovery. The senior official flew from Russia to Utah unannounced for the hours-long surgery.
This diagnosis “kind of puts things in perspective” the former Utah governor and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 said, noticing that he was shocked when what he suspected to be two ordinary mole holes appeared to be skin cancer.
The doctors will closely monitor his condition for the next year to ensure that the cancer has not spread to other parts of his body.
Huntsman’s father, Jon Huntsman Sr., a Utah billionaire and philanthropist, died of cancer earlier this year at the age of 81. Also, one of Huntsman’s longtime political heroes, Arizona Senator and Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, who died of a brain tumor in August this year, spent part of his life battling melanoma.
