David Kochel, Jeb Bush’s chief strategist, was diagnosed on Saturday with “acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” and has already began treatment to fight it.
“Columba’s and my prayers are with our friend David for a very speedy recovery,” Bush said in a statement. “He is an integral leader of our team, and more importantly, a great human being. I look forward to having David healthy and at 100 percent as we take on the Iowa caucuses and beyond.”
The 51-year-old Kochel is considered one of Iowa’ biggest Republican operatives. His company, Redwave Communications LLC, consulted for the super political action committee backing Bush before his presidential campaign was formally announced back in June. In the 2012 campaign, Kochel was Mitt Romney’s top Iowa strategist.
The Des Moines Register reports that Kochel had been feeling under the weather for several weeks, and had undergone medical tests in Miami. When symptoms grew worse Friday, he was hospitalized in Des Moines, where the illness was identified as T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a particularly aggressive form of cancer.
A web page for updates, called “The Kochel Triangle,” has been posted by colleagues at Redwave Communications. The president of the company, Sara Craig, writes: “What can I do?: Thanks for asking! We’re asking for no visitors at this time while he begins his treatments. The most important thing now is texts to his phone or sharing tidbits on this page – he will read every single one of them so keep ‘em coming. Jokes, pictures, thoughts of goodwill – they all are appreciated. True to Kochel form, he is concerned he won’t be able to reply to all of them right away. We told him you’d understand.”
For those who want to communicate with Kochel, Craig says they should do so via Redwave, at 4019 Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312.
