Brazil's Lula announces return to public life

Photo courtesy from the Lula Institute that shows former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva smiling after hearing the news about the total disappearance of the tumor they detected in his larynx last October. EFE

Sao Paulo, Mar 28 (EFE).- Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that after beating cancer, he plans to return to public life "to help Brazil continue growing and developing."
"I received the most important news that any human being can receive," Lula said in a video taped a few hours after doctors confirmed the total disappearance of the tumor they detected in his larynx last October.
The former head of state expressed gratitude to his family, God, the personnel at Sao Paulo's Sirio Libanes Hospital and offered special thanks to his political protege and successor as president, Dilma Rousseff.
Drawing on her own successful battle with lymphatic cancer in 2009, "comrade Dilma" was among the people who gave him encouragement in "the worst moments," Lula said.
He also expressed appreciation for the outpouring of support he received from the Brazilian people.
After being diagnosed with cancer on Oct. 29, Lula underwent more than a month of chemotherapy followed by 33 radiation treatments.
He lost around 10 kilos (22 pounds) during the course of the treatment and spent a week in the hospital earlier this month with a case of pneumonia, which his doctors described as normal for a patient whose immune system by radiation.
Though Lula didn't specify what form his return to public life will take, his Workers Party is counting on the man who governed Brazil from 2003-2011 to stump for its candidates in the October municipal elections.               COPY : http://www.efe.com