Charles Krauthammer shocks with news he has only weeks to live: 'This is the final verdict

Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer, 68, revealed Friday that he is in the final stages of cancer and has mere weeks to live.

What did he say?

In a statement provided to the cable outlet, Krauthammer said that his "fight is over."

“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,” Krauthammer's letter began. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.”

He added that recent testing revealed that his cancer has returned.

“There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly," the beloved personality wrote. "My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over."

“I leave this life with no regrets,” Krauthammer added. “It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.”

What's the background?

In October, Krauthammer all but disappeared from the network, and anchor Bret Baier revealed that Krauthammer had taken a leave of absence to have a surgical procedure.

The procedure ended up being the removal of an abdominal tumor.

In November, Krauthammer addressed the surgery himself, noting that his healing was a "longer road than anticipated."

By February, Krauthammer said that his healing was progressing.

“This too is progressing well, but as usual, is intense and slow,” Krauthammer said. “Nonetheless, I am determined to make it back. I’ve got to — I can’t let you guys have all the fun.”

Earlier in May, he provided the most uplifting of updates and revealed that "the worst now appears to be behind me."

"I’m finally getting back on track with the rehab schedule that will eventually get me home," he told Fox.

Krauthammer was in the medical field before going into policy, and then into journalism. After medical school, he was a chief psychiatry resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he studied depression and published ground-breaking findings in top medical journals. In 1978, he took a job in the Carter administration, directing planning in psychiatric research and later served as a speech writer for Vice President Walter Mondale. He later began writing columns for The New Republic, Time magazine and finally the Washington Post.