Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard shared an emotional video update on her husband Abraham Williams's fight against a rare bone cancer, saying doctors removed all cancerous tissue but that ongoing monitoring lies ahead.
Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman who led the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for a year and a half, posted the video to X on Thursday detailing Williams's diagnosis, an eight-hour surgery, and the grueling recovery that followed. She resigned from the Cabinet in May to stand beside him through treatment, and the video marked her most detailed public account of what the couple has faced since his diagnosis earlier this year.
Williams was diagnosed with sacral chordoma, a slow-growing cancerous bone tumor at the base of the spine so uncommon that Gabbard called it "a very, very rare one in a million type of cancer." The diagnosis came by phone. Gabbard said she could hear it in her husband's voice before he told her the news.
Gabbard said in the video that she and Williams consulted their doctors and weighed two options: an invasive surgery to remove the bottom part of his sacrum and his tailbone, or radiation. They chose surgery and scheduled it as fast as they could.
Williams spent almost eight hours under heavy anesthesia. Gabbard described the relief of seeing him wheeled back into the recovery room, and the fear that followed.
"His body, as he started to come out, started reacting to the drugs that were in his body. It was tough."
The night after surgery, Williams pushed to get up multiple times, moving slowly with the help of a nurse and vomiting repeatedly. He refused all narcotic pain medication and fought through the postoperative pain on his own. Gabbard's video included footage of Williams before and after the procedure, and later in a gym working through physical therapy exercises.
A few weeks after surgery, pathologists and doctors told the couple they were confident they had cut out all of the cancerous bone and tissue. Fox News reported that Williams is currently cancer-free but faces a regimen of frequent MRIs to watch for recurrence, either at the original site or elsewhere in his body.
Roughly three months after the operation, Williams began a rigorous physical therapy program. Gabbard said he gets frustrated because he wants to make progress faster and sometimes pushes too far, but that overall he is doing well.
She did not sugarcoat the road ahead.
"The reality is that the battle isn't over yet."
Gabbard announced her resignation from the DNI post in May, with her last day set for June 30. In her formal resignation letter, she wrote that she was "deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me" and for the chance to lead the intelligence community. But she said she could not ask Williams to face his fight alone.
Her letter described Williams as her anchor through eleven years of marriage, through a deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and her service leading the intelligence community. National Review reported that Gabbard said her husband "faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months."
"His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge. I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position."
President Trump confirmed the diagnosis in his own statement at the time, describing it as "a rare form of bone cancer" and "a tough battle." The New York Post reported that Trump praised Gabbard's service and said she "rightfully" wanted to be with her husband.
Gabbard's departure from the DNI role set off a chain of transitions at the top of the intelligence community. Housing Director Bill Pulte temporarily took over the position after Gabbard left.
During her year and a half leading the ODNI, Gabbard moved aggressively to reshape the intelligence apparatus. She worked to reduce the size of the office, unravel DEI programs embedded across intelligence agencies, and declassify documents related to the Trump-Russia "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, materials she said showed the Obama administration had used information to undermine Trump's 2016 presidential victory.
She also conducted investigations into election security and was working to declassify a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion that may have revealed the court's concerns about federal government searches conducted under Section 702, the legal authority that allows warrantless surveillance of foreign targets but has drawn bipartisan criticism over how it sweeps up Americans' communications. In her final stretch as DNI, Gabbard also released ODNI documents related to the origins of COVID-19.
The Washington Examiner noted that Williams's diagnosis came during this period of high-intensity work, and that the personal crisis forced a choice between continued public service and family.
After Pulte's interim stint, Jay Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and onetime leader of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, was confirmed and sworn in as DNI director earlier this month.
Gabbard's video ended with Williams walking into the frame and embracing her. She was visibly emotional, her voice breaking as she expressed thanks.
"We are so grateful to God for his unconditional love, for being our shelter, for being our peace and our strength. We want to say thank you to the doctors, the surgeon, the pathologist, the anesthesiologist, we want to say thank you to all of you sharing the most beautiful prayers and well wishes with us. Mahalo nui loa to you all."
Just The News reported that Gabbard described the period since the diagnosis as "a challenging time" that remains "hard to talk about." The couple's willingness to share the details publicly, the surgery footage, the rehab sessions, the raw emotion, gave supporters a full picture of what drove one of the administration's most consequential intelligence officials to walk away from the job.
Gabbard gave up a powerful post to be where she believed she was needed most. Whether Williams's recovery continues on its current path or the MRIs bring harder news, she made clear she intends to be standing next to him either way.
