In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing reminiscence loss and psychological fogginess so extreme {that a} pal grew involved he might need a mind tumor. Mr. Kennedy stated 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 yr 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 stated in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Occasions. Mr. Kennedy was instantly scheduled for a process at Duke College Medical Middle by the identical surgeon who had operated on his uncle, he stated.
Whereas packing for the journey, he stated, he obtained 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 acquired into my mind and ate a portion of it after which died,” Mr. Kennedy stated 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 realize entry in additional states might put him ready to tip the election.
He has gone to lengths to seem 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, over time, he has confronted critical 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 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 stated 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 stated, he was additionally recognized with mercury poisoning, more than likely from ingesting an excessive amount of fish containing the damaging heavy steel, which might trigger critical neurological points.
“I’ve cognitive issues, clearly,” he stated 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 stated he had recovered from the reminiscence loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he stated 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 may be a hilarious suggestion, given the competitors.”
The marketing campaign declined to offer his medical data to The Occasions. Neither President Biden nor Mr. Trump has launched medical data on this election cycle. Nevertheless, the White Home put out a six-page well being abstract for President Biden in February. Mr. Trump launched a three-paragraph assertion from his physician in November.
On Wednesday afternoon, hours after this text was revealed, Mr. Kennedy posted a remark on his X profile. “I supply to eat 5 extra mind worms and nonetheless beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate,” the submit learn. “I really feel assured within the outcome even with a six-worm handicap.”
Docs who’ve handled parasitic infections and mercury poisoning stated each circumstances can typically completely harm mind perform, however sufferers can also have non permanent 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 concerning the obvious parasite, within the telephone interview with The Occasions, 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 stated within the interview, he underwent a battery of checks. Scans over many weeks confirmed no change within the spot on his mind, he stated.
Docs finally concluded that the cyst they noticed on scans contained the stays of a parasite. Mr. Kennedy stated that he didn’t know the kind of parasite or the place he might need contracted it, although he suspected it might need been throughout a visit via South Asia.
A number of infectious illness specialists and neurosurgeons stated 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 had been talking usually.
Dr. Clinton White, a professor of infectious ailments on the College of Texas Medical Department in Galveston, stated 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 stated, “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. Somewhat, Dr. White stated, 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, usually once 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, generally known as neurocysticercosis, every year in the US, in keeping with the journal Rising Infectious Illnesses.
Scott Gardner, curator of the Manter Laboratory for Parasitology on the College of Nebraska-Lincoln, stated that when any worm is in a mind, cells calcify round it. “And also you’re going to principally have nearly like a tumor that’s there perpetually. It’s not going to go wherever.”
Dr. Gardner stated it was doable a worm would trigger reminiscence loss. Nevertheless, extreme reminiscence loss is extra usually related to one other well being scare Mr. Kennedy stated he had on the time: mercury poisoning.
Mr. Kennedy stated he was then subsisting on a weight loss plan heavy on predatory fish, notably tuna and perch, each identified to have elevated mercury ranges. Within the interview with The Occasions, he stated 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 stated the checks confirmed his mercury ranges had been 10 instances what the Environmental Safety Company considers protected.
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 stated he was sure his weight loss plan had precipitated the poisoning. “I cherished tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them on a regular basis,” he stated.
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 concerning the situation.
She stated the mercury ranges that Mr. Kennedy described had been excessive, however not shocking for somebody consuming that amount and sort of seafood.
Mr. Kennedy stated he made adjustments 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 folks contaminated by metals, equivalent to lead and zinc, in industrial accidents. Dr. Sunderland stated 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 stated she would advise chelation remedy for the degrees Mr. Kennedy stated he had.
Mr. Kennedy’s coronary heart concern started in school, he stated, 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 keeping with information reviews. 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 stated within the deposition. On that go to, he stated, docs used a defibrillator to shock his coronary heart to reset the rhythm.
He stated within the deposition that stress, caffeine and a scarcity of sleep triggered the situation. “It looks like there’s a bag of worms in my chest. I can really feel instantly when it goes out,” he stated.
He additionally stated within the deposition and the interview that he had contracted hepatitis C via intravenous drug use in his youth. He stated 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 stated 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 stated.
He informed an interviewer final yr that he had just lately undergone a process accessible in Japan to implant titanium between his vocal cords to maintain them from involuntarily constricting.
