In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing reminiscence loss and psychological fogginess so extreme {that a} buddy grew involved he may need a mind tumor. Mr. Kennedy mentioned he consulted a number of of the nation’s prime neurologists, a lot of whom had both handled or spoken to his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, earlier than his dying the earlier 12 months of mind most cancers.
A number of docs observed a darkish spot on the youthful Mr. Kennedy’s mind scans and concluded that he had a tumor, he mentioned in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Occasions. Mr. Kennedy was instantly scheduled for a process at Duke College Medical Heart by the identical surgeon who had operated on his uncle, he mentioned.
Whereas packing for the journey, he mentioned, he obtained a name from a physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had a unique opinion: Mr. Kennedy, he believed, had a useless parasite in his head.
The physician believed that the abnormality seen on his scans “was brought on by a worm that acquired into my mind and ate a portion of it after which died,” Mr. Kennedy mentioned within the deposition.
Now an unbiased presidential candidate, the 70-year-old Mr. Kennedy has portrayed his athleticism and relative youth as a bonus over the 2 oldest individuals to ever search the White Home: President Biden, 81, and former President Donald J. Trump, 77. Mr. Kennedy has secured a spot on the ballots in Utah, Michigan, Hawaii and, his marketing campaign says, California and Delaware. His intensive efforts to realize entry in additional states might put him able to tip the election.
He has gone to lengths to look hale, snowboarding with a skilled snowboarder and with an Olympic gold medalist who known as him a “ripper” as they raced down the mountain. A digital camera crew was at his aspect whereas he lifted weights, shirtless, at an outside health club in Venice Seaside.
Nonetheless, through the years, he has confronted severe well being points, some beforehand undisclosed, together with the obvious parasite.
For many years, Mr. Kennedy suffered from atrial fibrillation, a typical heartbeat abnormality that will increase the danger of stroke or coronary heart failure. He has been hospitalized no less than 4 instances for episodes, though in an interview with The Occasions this winter, he mentioned he had not had an incident in additional than a decade and believed the situation had disappeared.
About the identical time he discovered of the parasite, he mentioned, he was additionally identified with mercury poisoning, probably from ingesting an excessive amount of fish containing the damaging heavy metallic, which might trigger severe neurological points.
“I’ve cognitive issues, clearly,” he mentioned within the 2012 deposition. “I’ve short-term reminiscence loss, and I’ve longer-term reminiscence loss that impacts me.”
Within the interview with The Occasions, he mentioned he had recovered from the reminiscence loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he mentioned had not required remedy. Requested final week if any of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points might compromise his health for the presidency, Stefanie Spear, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy marketing campaign, informed The Occasions, “That could be a hilarious suggestion, given the competitors.”
The marketing campaign declined to supply his medical data to The Occasions. Neither President Biden nor Mr. Trump has launched medical data on this election cycle.
Medical doctors who’ve handled parasitic infections and mercury poisoning mentioned each circumstances can generally completely harm mind perform, however sufferers can also have momentary signs and mount a full restoration.
A few of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points have been revealed within the 2012 deposition, which he gave throughout divorce proceedings from his second spouse, Mary Richardson Kennedy. On the time, Mr. Kennedy was arguing that his incomes energy had been diminished by his cognitive struggles.
Mr. Kennedy supplied extra particulars, together with in regards to the obvious parasite, within the telephone interview with The Occasions, carried out when he was on the cusp of getting on his first state poll. His marketing campaign declined to reply follow-up questions.
Within the days after the 2010 name from NewYork-Presbyterian, Mr. Kennedy mentioned within the interview, he underwent a battery of exams. Scans over many weeks confirmed no change within the spot on his mind, he mentioned.
Medical doctors finally concluded that the cyst they noticed on scans contained the stays of a parasite. Mr. Kennedy mentioned that he didn’t know the kind of parasite or the place he may need contracted it, although he suspected it may need been throughout a visit via South Asia.
A number of infectious illness specialists and neurosurgeons mentioned in separate interviews with The Occasions that, primarily based on what Mr. Kennedy described, they believed it was possible a pork tapeworm larva. The docs haven’t handled Mr. Kennedy and have been talking usually.
Dr. Clinton White, a professor of infectious ailments on the College of Texas Medical Department in Galveston, mentioned microscopic tapeworm eggs are sticky and simply transferred from one individual to a different. As soon as hatched, the larvae can journey within the bloodstream, he mentioned, “and find yourself in every kind of tissues.”
Although it’s inconceivable to know, he added that it’s unlikely {that a} parasite would eat part of the mind, as Mr. Kennedy described. Somewhat, Dr. White mentioned, it survives on vitamins from the physique. In contrast to tapeworm larvae within the intestines, these within the mind stay comparatively small, a couple of third of an inch.
Some tapeworm larvae can dwell in a human mind for years with out inflicting issues. Others can wreak havoc, typically after they begin to die, which causes irritation. The commonest signs are seizures, complications and dizziness.
There are roughly 2,000 hospitalizations for the situation, often called neurocysticercosis, every year in the USA, in response to the journal Rising Infectious Ailments.
Scott Gardner, curator of the Manter Laboratory for Parasitology on the College of Nebraska-Lincoln, mentioned that when any worm is in a mind, cells calcify round it. “And also you’re going to mainly have nearly like a tumor that’s there endlessly. It’s not going to go wherever.”
Dr. Gardner mentioned it was potential a worm would trigger reminiscence loss. Nonetheless, extreme reminiscence loss is extra typically related to one other well being scare Mr. Kennedy mentioned he had on the time: mercury poisoning.
Mr. Kennedy mentioned he was then subsisting on a weight loss program heavy on predatory fish, notably tuna and perch, each recognized to have elevated mercury ranges. Within the interview with The Occasions, he mentioned that he had skilled “extreme mind fog” and had bother retrieving phrases. Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has railed towards the hazards of mercury contamination in fish from coal-fired energy vegetation, had his blood examined.
He mentioned the exams confirmed his mercury ranges have been 10 instances what the Environmental Safety Company considers secure.
On the time, Mr. Kennedy additionally was just a few years into his campaign towards thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative utilized in some vaccines. He’s a longtime vaccine skeptic who has falsely linked childhood inoculations to an increase in autism, in addition to to different medical circumstances.
Within the interview, Mr. Kennedy mentioned he was sure his weight loss program had induced the poisoning. “I liked tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them on a regular basis,” he mentioned.
The Occasions described Mr. Kennedy’s signs to Elsie Sunderland, an environmental chemist at Harvard who has not spoken to Mr. Kennedy and responded usually in regards to the situation.
She mentioned the mercury ranges that Mr. Kennedy described have been excessive, however not shocking for somebody consuming that amount and kind of seafood.
Mr. Kennedy mentioned he made modifications after these two well being scares, together with getting extra sleep, touring much less and decreasing his fish consumption.
He additionally underwent chelation remedy, a remedy that binds to metals within the physique to allow them to be expelled. It’s usually given to individuals contaminated by metals, similar to lead and zinc, in industrial accidents. Dr. Sunderland mentioned that when mercury poisoning is clearly diet-related, she would merely suggest that the individual cease consuming fish. However one other physician who spoke to The Occasions mentioned she would advise chelation remedy for the degrees Mr. Kennedy mentioned he had.
Mr. Kennedy’s coronary heart subject started in faculty, he mentioned, when it began beating out of sync.
In 2001 he was admitted to a hospital in Seattle whereas on the town to present a speech, in response to information studies. He was handled, and launched the subsequent day. He was hospitalized no less than three further instances between September 2011 and early 2012, together with as soon as in Los Angeles, he mentioned within the deposition. On that go to, he mentioned, docs used a defibrillator to shock his coronary heart to reset the rhythm.
He mentioned within the deposition that stress, caffeine and a scarcity of sleep triggered the situation. “It appears like there’s a bag of worms in my chest. I can really feel instantly when it goes out,” he mentioned.
He additionally mentioned within the deposition and the interview that he had contracted hepatitis C via intravenous drug use in his youth. He mentioned he had been handled and had no lingering results from the an infection.
Mr. Kennedy has spoken publicly about one different main well being situation — spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological dysfunction that causes his vocal cords to squeeze too shut collectively and explains his hoarse, generally strained voice.
He first observed it when he was 42 years previous, he mentioned within the deposition. Mr. Kennedy for years made a major amount of cash giving speeches, and that enterprise fell off because the situation worsened, he mentioned.
He informed an interviewer final 12 months that he had not too long ago undergone a process obtainable in Japan to implant titanium between his vocal cords to maintain them from involuntarily constricting.
