Tucker to Undergo Cancer Treatment

Assemblyman Curtis R. Tucker returned home to Inglewood on Wednesday to consult with his physician about possible treatments for the newly discovered cancer in his liver.

Tucker, 70, spent eight days at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento after complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. Doctors found no problem with his heart or complication from a previous heart bypass operation, Tucker said. But after conducting a battery of tests, they discovered the cancer. He was discharged from the hospital Saturday.

“They had found cancer in my liver . . . some form of lymphoma--it is not the most dangerous one,” Tucker said in an interview Monday. “I’m going to take some treatments. . . . I don’t think it’s surgery . . . either chemotherapy or radiation or pills or medication.”

The seven-term Democratic lawmaker said he would like to start treatment as soon as possible after he consults with a team of specialists.

Appearing weak and tired when he returned to the Assembly on Monday, Tucker said he did not expect his illness to disrupt his legislative career. “I intend to stay here 10 more years,” he said. “I’m going to work every day.”

Chemotherapy Treatment

Tucker said Wednesday that he has no intention of resigning the seat he has held for 14 years.

“When somebody tells me . . . when my doctor tells me, then I’ll resign. But I don’t even know what the diagnosis is. . . . I understand it is a minor tumor. I’m not going to make any decisions right now.”

Tucker’s physician, Dr. William Zimmerman of Hawthorne, could not be reached for comment.

Lymphoma is a cancer that attacks the lymphoid cells of the body’s defense system, a Torrance cancer specialist said. When found in the liver, lymphoma normally is treated by chemotherapy, the specialist said. It can originate in the liver, but often spreads to the liver from other areas.

“It’s a serious form of cancer,” said the specialist, who asked not to be identified. “But as opposed to many other kinds of cancer, lymphoma patients often tend to respond well to chemotherapy. A good percentage of patients treated by chemotherapy go into remission.”

Landslide Victory

Tucker said if he eventually does step down, “naturally I would want my son to replace me,” referring to his son, Curtis Jr.

The chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, Tucker won a landslide victory June 7 over his Democratic challenger, Inglewood City Councilman Daniel Tabor.

Tucker received 76% of the vote after a mounting an expensive mail campaign that portrayed him as a fighter for his district and a venerable family man.

Tucker will face Republican Michael Davis in November. The 50th Assembly District, which includes Inglewood, El Segundo, Westchester, Lennox and parts of South Los Angeles, is overwhelmingly Democratic.

Illness Raises Issue

Davis said Tucker’s cancer raises an unavoidable issue about his “ability to represent the district at full strength.”

Davis, a Los Angeles business consultant who ran unsuccessfully against Tucker in 1986, said he would not call for Tucker to withdraw from the race.

“That’s obviously a choice he has to make,” Davis said. “I would be disappointed if he didn’t exercise the wisdom and judgment to pull out if that becomes necessary. There’s a thin line between his right to privacy and the right of the people to disclosure of what his real health situation is.”

Tucker suggested that Davis should “go and find himself another district. He’ll never represent the 50th.”