Tick, Tick, Tick...

摘要

In July 2004, Bill Clinton Ap-peared trim and vibrant when he delivered an address to the Democratic National Convention. Less than a month later, the former president was in a New York hospital bed, recovering after emergency heart-bypass surgery. Eighteen months earlier, Sen. John Kerry had been in a Baltimore hospital recuperating from surgery to remove his prostate gland. The senator had felt perfectly well, but blood tests and a needle biopsy showed early stages of a cancerous growth. Both men narrowly missed "time bombs" -potentially life-threatening medical problems that had grown silendy over many years. Clinton developed chest pains that signaled his condition, while Kerry had no symptoms whatsoever. Both were diagnosed while their conditions were still treatable, but each year millions of other Americans aren't so fortunate.