Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Is Scheduled To Have A Double Mastectomy Friday
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of Elijah Cummings, announced Tuesday that she would be running to fill Maryland's 7th congressional district seat vacated by her husband when he died last month.
Rockeymoore Cummings also announced Tuesday that she would be getting a double mastectomy Friday as a preventative measure.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Announces Run For Late Husband Elijah Cummings' Congressional Seat
She said the elective surgery was planned months before she ever considered a run for Congress and while her late husband was still alive.
Rockeymoore Cummings shared her plans after talking about the affordability of healthcare.
"Weeks, actually months, before running for Congress was ever a thought, I was already traumatized because in 2015 my mother died of Stage 4 breast cancer. And last year my sister was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer," Rockeymoore-Cummings said, " and she decided to have a double mastectomy."
She also lost a friend recently to breast cancer.
The decision she said was something she made together with her late husband and her doctor.
"The date was scheduled long before he ever died, long before this ever happened," Rockeymoore Cummings said. "And the date is Friday."
She got emotional when talking about what Elijah told her: "Maya you always consider everybody else, I want you to take care of yourself."
"And so as a promise to him and as a promise to me, I am focused on making sure I'm healthy and well," she said. "I'm going to move forward with having that surgery."
She said the surgery recovery will take two to four weeks.
Rockerymoore Cummings said she'll use that downtime to focus on raising money for her campaign.
"This is going to get down and dirty, but I'm ready for it," Rockeymoore Cummings said.