The illness and death of Eva Peron: Cancer, politics, and secrecy

Abstract

Additional radiotherapy temporarily shrank the mass, but [Evita]'s pelvic pain returned by May, 1952. Pack declined to perform a heroic salvage operation, believing it would not benefit the patient. When Evita soon developed pulmonary metastases, Pack arranged for chemotherapy with nitrogen mustard, which had recently been introduced in the USA. This treatment was aimed at relieving her cough and dyspnoea. Canonico, in an article on Evita's case published in 1991,11 claimed that she was the first Argentine to receive chemotherapy. By June, Eva Per6n weighed only 36 kg. She died on July 26, 1952, in the company of her husband and family.