US lawmaker John Lewis diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer

Civil rights icon and US Democratic Representative John Lewis of Georgia has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, his office announced on Sunday.

The 79-year-old congressman said that he was diagnosed with cancer during a routine medical visit and subsequent test reconfirmed the diagnosis. He will undergo treatment, The Hill reported.

"I have been in some kind of fight -- for freedom, equality, basic human rights -- for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now," Lewis, who in March 1965 joined forces with Martin Luther King Jr. to lead a voting rights march out out Selma, Alabama, said in a statement.

He continued later: "While I am clear-eyed about the prognosis, doctors have told me that recent medical advances have made this type of cancer treatable in many cases, that treatment options are no longer as debilitating as they once were, and that I have a fighting chance.