Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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Wilma Mankiller, 53, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is again fighting cancer. Mankiller served, as the Chief of the CNO for 10 years, declining to run for yet another term for health reasons.

Mankiller explained that she had surgery to remove two lumps, as well as some surrounding tissue, and added that the good news was that the doctors had caught the return of the cancer early. The first diagnoses of lymphoma came in 1996, which went into remission a year later following treatments.

"The bad news is that you have it. The good news is that it was found in an early phase, and I had surgery to remove two lumps", said Mankiller.

In 1979 Wilma Mankiller survived a near fatal car accident. She underwent 17 operations after the accident. Mankiller is also a survivor of two kidney transplants, in 1990 and 1998.

"I really feel good", Mankiller said, calling the latest diagnosis "relatively minor" compared to the lymphoma diagnosis. She has already had two operations and is in the process of completing a seven week radiation treatment program. Mankiller explained that the treatments are to "catch any stray cells that might be so tiny you couldn’t see them with a microscope." The daily treatments are being received at the Muskogee Regional Hospital.

Mankiller said that she didn’t make the diagnosis public immediately, so as not to divert attention from the CNO's elections. The elections were held in July.