Florida

‘She Fights, She's Tough': DeSantis Gives Update on First Lady's Breast Cancer Battle

First Lady Casey DeSantis, 41, mother to three children with Gov. DeSantis

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an update Tuesday on wife Casey DeSantis' battle with breast cancer, saying he has faith in her fight.

"She is a very very strong woman and it's not an easy thing when this happens because it's just, your life is going and all the sudden this is something that puts that in the balance," DeSantis said at a Tuesday news conference in St. Pete Beach. "She fights, she's tough."

The governor announced earlier this month that his 41-year-old wife, the mother of the couple's three young children, had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

"Her view is, 'Better me than somebody who may not be able to deal with it,'" Gov. DeSantis said. "So that's just kind of her spirit, I have faith, I got faith in the big guy upstairs, and I've got faith in her and I know that this is a bad break but she's got an awful lot to live for for the rest of her life, we've got a lot of kids we've to raise, and so it's tough."

Casey DeSantis has played an active role in her husband's administration, advocating for people with mental health issues. She often appears with him, children in tow, at bill signings and other official events.

The couple are parents to 4-year-old daughter Madison, 3-year-old son Mason and 18-month-old daughter Mamie – who is the first baby to be born in the Governor’s Mansion in more than 50 years.

"We've got a road ahead, you know our kids are young enough that they don't really know what's going on," Gov. DeSantis said. "You know my mother is a breast cancer survivor, I was in elementary school so I was older than our kids are now, but I can tell you, it's a total blur to me, I don't remember any of the details, I was just too young to appreciate it at the time, so our kids really have no concept of what's going on and in some respects that's something that will hopefully not provide any type of a load on them."

The governor added that it's a good lesson in receiving regular medical screenings.

"I think the lesson is, it wasn't like she was in a lot of pain, I mean these screenings and the things that you go, can really really be life-saving, and so I would just encourage folks, not just women with breast cancer, but men, there's certain things that we're more susceptible to, make sure that you go in and do that when the physicians tell you to," he said. "She just had a feeling she needed to do it, so thank God that she did."

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