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Cancer, working from bed all part of long McCain chronicles

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2000, file photo photo, then-Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., responds to a question during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by the South Carolina Business and Industry Political Education Committee, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, Pool) FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2000, file photo photo, then-Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., responds to a question during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by the South Carolina Business and Industry Political Education Committee, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, Pool)

By Associated Press July 21, 2017 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. John McCain is telling his best friend in the Senate to keep it together as he grapples with brain cancer.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says McCain called him three times on Thursday about immigration legislation. He says McCain “is yelling at me to buck up so I’m gonna buck up.”

McCain’s diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor has devastated his Senate colleagues. Yet he’s warned them that he’ll be back in the Senate soon.

The resilience is classic McCain, the Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war turned congressman and senator. He twice ran for president, losing a GOP primary to George W. Bush and a general election to Barack Obama.

The 80-year-old six-term Arizona Republican is chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee.