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Luke Menard, 'Idol' contestant, has cancer

American Idol contestant has Hodgkin's disease

Newsday.com

7:57 AM EDT, May 22, 2008

Luke Menard

Luke Menard, an "American Idol" finalist, has been diagnosed with cancer.

Handsome "American Idol" finalist Luke Menard has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (a cancer of the immune system), according to a report in CBS News.

The network says a rep from the singer's group, Chapter 6, has confirmed the disease, considered one of the most curable forms of cancer.

"Luke had a lingering cough and was having trouble breathing deeply, so he went to the doctor to have it checked out," Jane Victor, a spokesman for Chapter 6 told CBS News. "The suspicion was walking pneumonia. But after a chest X-ray doctors saw a mass and did more testing, which is what led to the stage II Hodgkin diagnosis."

Menard is 29 and married.

"They've been told that it's treatable and manageable. Luke is currently in Los Angeles and plans to return home to Indiana soon," Victor said.

The five-year relative survival rate of stage II Hodgkin's disease is 90 to 95 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. It is inoperable but treatable.

Menard made it into the top 16 on this season of "American Idol." He was voted off the show March 6. During the show he sang "Everybody's Talkin' ,'' "Killer Queen" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."