4. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The U.S. Supreme Court Justice was diagnosed with early-stage colon cancer in 1999 and never missed a day on the bench during treatment, ABC News reported. In 2009, it was revealed that she had also undergone surgery to move a small tumor on her pancreas. In 1993, President Clinton appointed her as the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Doctors found Ginsburg’s colon cancer while treating her for an unrelated infection in 1999. She recovered from the cancer after surgery and chemotherapy. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with — and recovered from — pancreatic cancer.
In September 1999, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was found incidentally when she had gone to the doctor for an abdominal infection. She underwent a sigmoid colectomy followed by “precautionary” chemotherapy and radiation treatments which began in October and finished in June 2000. According to Ginsburg, “Following the treatments, it is anticipated that I will require only routine examinations to assure my continuing good health.”
Many held their breath on November 8, 2018, when they learned that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, had been hospitalized after a fall in her office left her with three broken ribs. But Ginsburg was discharged two days later and worked from home for a few days. A week after the fall, she attended a Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House for her late friend and fellow Justice Antonin Scalia. She returned to the bench on November 26.