Robert Novak

Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and will retire immediately.

The political columnist called his condition "dire" and has left the paper to focus on medical treatment.

"The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy," Novak told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Novak, 77, announced his diagnosis July 27, only one week after he hit a homeless person with his Corvette. He had become ill that weekend and was admitted to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass., where doctors found a tumor in his brain.

"I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period," Novak originally said in the statement released by Eagle Publishing.

There is still no word on whether he will discontinue appearances on national television programs.

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Novak, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote the longest-running syndicated political column, lasting 45 years.

He received a $50 citation after he ran into a pedestrian in Washington. But, according to an Associated Press report, a neuro-oncologist at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle said it is routine procedure for doctors to search for brain tumors on patients who have car accidents and don't realize it.

"People get spatial and visual neglect of a certain part of their bodies and they don't realize they've done what they've done," said Dr. Lynne Taylor, a fellow with the American Academy of Neurology.

Novak was the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" from 1980 to 2005 and was an occasional contributor on Fox News. His colleagues, including House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered condolences.

"I know Bob will confront this challenge with the same courage with which he has taken on the political establishment in Washington for decades," Boehner said.

Novak will receive treatment at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C.

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