Sarah Huckabee Sanders Released After Thyroid Cancer Surgery Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
By Nick Koutsobinas | Saturday, 17 September 2022 01:56 PM EDT
Former White House press secretary and Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders was released Saturday from the hospital following the removal of thyroid cancer.
"On our way home from the hospital — cancer free," Huckabee Sanders wrote, according to The Hill. "Words cannot express how much we appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers and support!"
On Saturday, her spokesman Judd Deere took to Twitter to share the news.
"Following successful surgery on Friday to remove her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes and in consultation with her physician, Sarah was discharged from an Arkansas hospital — cancer free — today," Deere wrote. "She will spend the remaining portion of her recovery at home."
"Sarah is in great spirits and remains grateful for the exceptional care and service provided by the doctors and nurses."
Deere told The Associated Press that Sanders, 40, plans to resume campaigning "soon," but it was not known precisely when she would return.
Sanders said Friday when announcing the surgery that a biopsy earlier this month revealed she had thyroid cancer.
Dr. John R. Sims, a surgeon at CARTI Cancer Center in Little Rock who is one of Sanders' doctors, said Sanders' cancer was a stage 1 papillary thyroid carcinoma, the most common type of thyroid cancer and said she has an "excellent" prognosis.
Sims said Sanders will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine and long-term continuing care.
Sanders, who served as former President Donald Trump's spokeswoman until 2019, is running against Democrat nominee Chris Jones. She is the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Jones and his wife, Jerrilyn, on Friday issued a statement saying their family was thinking of Sanders and praying for her.
Sanders is heavily favored in the predominantly Republican state of Arkansas to win the office currently held by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is leaving office in January due to term limits.
She has run primarily on national issues in the Arkansas race, promising to use the governor's office to fight President Joe Biden and the "radical left."