Former Speaker O’Neill ‘Stable’ After 7-Hour Cancer Operation

Surgeons on Wednesday removed a golf ball-sized, cancerous tumor from the bowel of former House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. and said he came through the seven-hour operation “beautifully.”

The rectal cancer was completely removed, said Dr. Richard Wilson, chief of surgical oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Results of tests to determine if the cancer had spread to other organs are expected to be available by Friday, Wilson said, although he added he did not detect any further cancer during the surgery.

The 74-year-old O’Neill, reported to be in stable condition, also received a permanent colostomy, which provides an artificial route for defecation, Wilson said.

“He’s tolerated it beautifully and I think he’ll have no problem with it,” he said.

Wilson said patients who go through colostomy operations “live an absolutely normal life. This is our plan for (O’Neill) and this is what we will teach him.” He will remain hospitalized for about two weeks.

O’Neill was admitted to Brigham and Women’s for tests Sunday after leaving Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where he underwent a biopsy and other medical examinations.

Wilson announced Monday that O’Neill had a “polyp-like” cancer on the lower six inches of his bowel and predicted that the surgery would be successful because it was detected early.

O’Neill retired in January after 34 years in the House. He has an office in Boston and lives on Cape Cod with his wife, Mildred.