Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was packing for a hospital stay to have brain surgery for a tumor when doctors from another hospital said the dark spots in his brain scans may be caused by something else — a worm.
In a 2012 deposition he gave as part of divorce proceedings, Mr. Kennedy said a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital said he had a dead parasite inside his head, The New York Times reported. He originally had consulted neurologists because he was suffering memory loss and brain fog.
Mr. Kennedy said in the deposition that the doctor thought the dark spot “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.”
He told The Times that he has recovered from the memory loss and fogginess and hasn’t experienced any aftereffects from the parasite, which he didn’t receive treatment for.
When asked if his health problems could affect the presidency if he won, Kennedy campaign spokeswoman Stefanie Spear pooh-poohed the question.
“That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition,” Ms. Spear told the news outlet.
Mr. Kennedy said he doesn’t know what kind of parasite it was, or how and where he got it, although he suspected it may have been when he took a trip to South Asia.