The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

December 4, 2009

Nicholas County delegate recovering from brain tumor

By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — Delegate Sam Argento, the assistant majority whip of the House, is undergoing a series of treatments for a brain tumor and expects to resume full-time legislative duties after the 2010 session begins.

Reached at his Mount Nebo home Wednesday, the 67-year-old Democrat said he was “doing fine” following surgery at Charleston Area Medical Center.

“I still have about three or four more treatments to go,” the Nicholas County lawmaker said.

“I’m home for a week, then in Charleston for a week. I go back again Sunday.”

A retired official of the Nicholas County Health Department, Argento was elected to the 35th District seat in 2004 and re-elected in subsequent elections. He chairs the House Agriculture Committee and serves on Government Organization, Natural Resources, Roads and Transportation committees and the Select Committee on Senior Issues.

Argento said the brain tumor caused some short-term memory loss but hasn’t affected his mobility.

“I’m able to walk around and stuff like that,” he said.

“I don’t have to have a walker or a wheelchair, or anything like that.”

So far, he has undergone six treatments at the Charleston hospital.

“People have been really nice,” he said. “The people of Nicholas County have been fantastic. I still want to get back into the swing of things.”

If he cannot return to his desk for the Jan. 13 start of the 2010 regular session, he hopes to do so about a week later.

“So far, so good,” he said. “I just want to get back in and do some of the things to serve the people of Nicholas County. They put their faith in me, and I put my faith in them.”

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