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 demise 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 Instances. 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 acquired a name from a health care provider 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 attributable to a worm that bought into my mind and ate a portion of it after which died,” Mr. Kennedy mentioned within the deposition.
Now an impartial presidential candidate, the 70-year-old Mr. Kennedy has portrayed his athleticism and relative youth as a bonus over the 2 oldest folks 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 achieve entry in additional states may put him ready to tip the election.
He has gone to lengths to look hale, snowboarding with an expert 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 facet whereas he lifted weights, shirtless, at an out of doors health club in Venice Seashore.
Nonetheless, over time, 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 standard heartbeat abnormality that will increase the chance of stroke or coronary heart failure. He has been hospitalized at the very least 4 occasions for episodes, though in an interview with The Instances 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 realized of the parasite, he mentioned, he was additionally recognized 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 Instances, he mentioned he had recovered from the reminiscence loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he mentioned had not required therapy. Requested final week if any of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points may compromise his health for the presidency, Stefanie Spear, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy marketing campaign, instructed The Instances, “That may be a hilarious suggestion, given the competitors.”
The marketing campaign declined to offer his medical data to The Instances. 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 situations can typically completely injury mind operate, however sufferers can also have momentary signs and mount a full restoration.
A few of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points had 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 offered extra particulars, together with in regards to the obvious parasite, within the telephone interview with The Instances, performed 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 assessments. 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 by means of South Asia.
A number of infectious illness consultants and neurosurgeons mentioned in separate interviews with The Instances 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 had 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 all types of tissues.”
Although it’s not possible to know, he added that it’s unlikely {that a} parasite would eat part of the mind, as Mr. Kennedy described. Slightly, Dr. White mentioned, it survives on vitamins from the physique. Not like tapeworm larvae within the intestines, these within the mind stay comparatively small, a few 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 most typical signs are seizures, complications and dizziness.
There are roughly 2,000 hospitalizations for the situation, often known as neurocysticercosis, annually in the US, in response to the journal Rising Infectious Illnesses.
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 ceaselessly. 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-reduction plan heavy on predatory fish, notably tuna and perch, each identified to have elevated mercury ranges. Within the interview with The Instances, 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 crops, had his blood examined.
He mentioned the assessments confirmed his mercury ranges had been 10 occasions what the Environmental Safety Company considers secure.
On the time, Mr. Kennedy additionally was a number of 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 situations.
Within the interview, Mr. Kennedy mentioned he was sure his weight-reduction plan had brought on the poisoning. “I cherished tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them on a regular basis,” he mentioned.
The Instances 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 had been excessive, however not shocking for somebody consuming that amount and sort of seafood.
Mr. Kennedy mentioned he made adjustments after these two well being scares, together with getting extra sleep, touring much less and lowering his fish consumption.
He additionally underwent chelation remedy, a therapy that binds to metals within the physique to allow them to be expelled. It’s usually given to folks 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 Instances mentioned she would advise chelation remedy for the degrees Mr. Kennedy mentioned he had.
Mr. Kennedy’s coronary heart challenge started in school, he mentioned, when it began beating out of sync.
In 2001 he was admitted to a hospital in Seattle whereas on the town to provide a speech, in response to information studies. He was handled, and launched the subsequent day. He was hospitalized at the very least three extra occasions 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 seems 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 by means of 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, typically strained voice.
He first observed it when he was 42 years outdated, he mentioned within the deposition. Mr. Kennedy for years made a big sum of money giving speeches, and that enterprise fell off because the situation worsened, he mentioned.
He instructed an interviewer final 12 months that he had lately undergone a process accessible in Japan to implant titanium between his vocal cords to maintain them from involuntarily constricting.
