Eleanor Mondale, the daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale, has been diagnosed with brain cancer, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Tuesday.
Mondale, 45, spoke to the newspaper just hours before she began her first session of radiation and chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Just a week ago, Mondale married local rock star Chan Poling.
"It's bad but not that bad," she said from her farmhouse in Prior Lake. "I've got a really good chance to beat it."
Mondale said her vision had bothered her in recent months but didn't believe there was anything seriously wrong until a camping trip May 16, when she suffered two seizures.
Doctors determined she had two tumors, both in her frontal lobe, and on May 31 they were found to be cancerous.
Mondale will undergo nearly seven weeks of oral chemotherapy and radiation, which could either zap the tumors completely or reduce them to a size that makes surgery safer.