[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Recognizing the Mayo Clinic

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my deepest 
gratitude to my friends at the Mayo Clinic's Arizona campus, where I 
was recently treated for cancer. This is not my first obligation to the 
Arizona branch of this landmark medical institution, which has been a 
synonym for medical excellence for more than 100 years. I received 
outstanding care for a prior, unrelated tumor in the year 2000.
  In July of this year, I found myself at Mayo once again. It is no 
exaggeration to say that the team of doctors, nurses, and technicians 
who looked after me were my salvation. They located and removed a brain 
tumor--a glioblastoma--that threatened my life. I will always be 
indebted for their timely and skillful intervention and for the 
outstanding support provided to my family by the entire Mayo community. 
Their professionalism is unmatched, as is their compassion. Thanks to 
my physicians, I was able to return to the Senate after only 10 days of 
recuperation. Following my surgery, I received radiation and 
chemotherapy at Mayo in one of the most modern facilities in the world.
  I mention this to draw attention to Mayo's renown as a center of 
excellence not only in the treatment of cancer but in virtually every 
field of medicine. A nonprofit institution, Mayo has large hospitals in 
Rochester, Minnesota, Phoenix, and Jacksonville, FL, which employ 
almost 50,000 people. Mayo also operates a network of more than 70 
affiliated hospitals and clinics, to which more than 1.3 million 
persons turned for treatment this year, patients from all 50 States and 
137 different countries. Moreover, the Mayo system operates several 
premier colleges of medicine and is a world leader in medical research. 
This breadth of activity, outstanding in each facet, is remarkable. It 
is no exaggeration to claim that the Mayo Clinic is central to the 
astonishing success of American medicine.
  I have made my own career in public service, but as I reflect on my 
experience as a cancer patient, I am humbled by the example of service 
to mankind provided by the entire Mayo family. I am and will always 
remain deeply grateful to everyone involved in my care.