WASHINGTON — The husband of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard underwent surgery for sacral chordoma cancer and is recovering well, Gabbard shared in an emotional video first obtained by The Daily Wire on Thursday.
Gabbard said that her husband Abraham did not know he had cancer until he went to the doctor for pain in his back. Doctors then shared with him that he had a tumor growing around his tailbone, and after several rounds of biopsies, revealed that he had a diagnosis of “sacral chordoma” a “very very rare, one in a million type of cancer,” Gabbard said.
“Everything got blurry at that moment for me,” she said, sharing that she was in a meeting at DNI when she learned the news. “I packed up all my stuff, got in the car, called Abraham, and said ‘I’m coming home,’ and I got back to him as quickly as I could so that we could just sit together and process this confirmation that my husband has cancer.”
Gabbard said doctors gave her husband two options: very invasive surgery, or radiation. She and her husband opted for the surgery and scheduled it as quickly as they could.
In her video message, an emotional Gabbard shares footage of her husband in the hospital, saying it was a “long eight hours” as he underwent the surgery, adding that she didn’t expect how scary the surgery would be. The video footage shows Gabbard hugging her husband, holding his hand, fixing his surgical cap as he awaited the surgery, as well as Abraham attempting to walk around the hospital after his surgery and even throwing up from the post-operative pain, since he refused to take any of the narcotic pain medication.
“A few weeks after the surgery was done, we got the best call. The pathologists and the doctors said they were confident that they were able to cut out all of the cancerous bone and tissue.”
Almost three months later, Gabbard said, her husband has been undergoing a rigorous physical therapy program.
“Overall, Abraham is progressing very well,” she said. “The reality isn’t over yet. Even as Abraham’s recovery continues, we are going to have to keep a very close eye on this.”
Earlier this year, my husband Abraham was diagnosed with a very rare bone cancer. This has been a challenging time for us and is hard to talk about. But so many of you have reached out asking how he’s doing, and sharing your prayers and well wishes with us. We made this video… pic.twitter.com/kcVfzJyncI
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 20, 2026