Flashing headlines to conclude tax day:
- BUFFETT DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE I PROSTATE CANCER
- WARREN BUFFETT SAYS NO INCIDENCE OF CANCER ELSEWHERE
- BERKSHIRE SAYS CONDITION ISN'T 'REMOTELY LIFE-THREATENING'
- BUFFETT: TESTS SHOW NO INCIDENCE OF CANCER ELSEWHERE IN BODY
CNBC adds that Buffett will start a two-month treatment course in July.
Full Berkshire press release [5]:
To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway:
This is to let you know that I have been diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer. The good news is that I’ve been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely lifethreatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way. I received my diagnosis last Wednesday. I then had a CAT scan and a bone scan on Thursday, followed by an MRI today. These tests showed no incidence of cancer elsewhere in my body.
My doctors and I have decided on a two-month treatment of daily radiation to begin in mid-July. This regimen will restrict my travel during that period, but will not otherwise change my daily routine.
I feel great – as if I were in my normal excellent health – and my energy level is 100 percent. I discovered the cancer because my PSA level (an indicator my doctors had regularly checked for many years) recently jumped beyond its normal elevation and a biopsy seemed warranted.
I will let shareholders know immediately should my health situation change. Eventually, of course, it will; but I believe that day is a long way off.
Warren E. Buffett
And some perspectives already prepared by Carol Loomis of Fortune
Last week was the most extraordinary week in Warren Buffett's history – but he lived his business life as if this was the most normal time in the world.
As Buffett announced today, he was diagnosed with Stage I prostate cancer last Wednesday, after a biopsy the previous day. On Thursday he had a CAT scan and bone scan, with these showing that the cancer had not spread elsewhere in his body.
On that same Thursday, he and a small group had dinner with his non-cousin, entertainer Jimmy Buffett, at a new Omaha restaurant called J. Coco's. Jimmy was in town for a performance two days later.
The following day – Friday – Buffett, the elder, was host to 160 business students from such universities as MIT, University of Chicago, University of Tennessee, and Peru's Universidad del Pacifico. Following the usual routine for such visits (there are six scheduled for this school year) the students toured two Berkshire retail subsidiaries, held a two-and-a-half hour Q&A session with Buffett, and lunched at one of his favorite restaurants, Piccolo's.
The riff at Piccolo's was that Jimmy Buffett turned up for lunch, creating an instant sensation.
At Jimmy's performance next night at Century/Link Center, the first person on stage was Warren Buffett, who deadpanned a "Welcome to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting." Actually, the only thing dissonant about his greeting was that the Berkshire meeting, which is held at that same Center, spreads out to overflow rooms and actually draws many more people than the standing-room-only (and wildly enthusiastic) crowd that Jimmy Buffett attracted.
On Sunday Buffett caught his breath. Then, on Monday morning at 7:30 AM, he met with his doctors to discuss courses of treatment for his newly discovered illness.
Continue reading here [6].