ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday that he’s being treated for what his doctor said is a common form of skin cancer.
He said during a Thursday news conference that he will undergo treatment Saturday for a form of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer that Hogan blames on sun exposure.The Republican governor had some skin removed last month from his forehead. He says it turned out to be skin cancer, but not melanoma, which is a serious form of skin cancer.
Hogan called it a “non-serious skin cancer.”
Hogan says he won’t miss a day of work.
He explained that he’d found the spots on his face and one under his breastbone.
“They put a few shots in there to numb you up, and then they slice a little bit off of there,” Hogan said of the procedure. “Luckily, scars are cool. I hate to mess with this beautiful face, but I’m going to have some stitches.”
He now urges people to use sunscreen and even mentioned he’ll support a bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Young of Frederick that bill does away with the requirement that children need a doctor’s note to use sunscreen at school — a requirement Hogan called “Just crazy!”
Hogan said he failed to use sunscreen as a lifeguard over six summers in Daytona, Florida. Now he says, “I think I’ll be handing out little tubes of 50 SPF to everyone I can find.”
The governor was treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015 and 2016. He said the skin cancer is “totally unrelated to the other cancer.” He told reporters he gets a full-body PET scan every 90 days.
“There are no signs of that returning whatsoever; I’m still 100 percent in remission, cancer-free” Hogan said.
Hogan says he made the announcement in the interest of transparency.
