Florida Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis appeared for a town hall event with CNN Tuesday evening. 

DeSantis sat down with Jake Tapper, and they discussed a wide range of topics, from closing the gap on frontrunner former President Donald Trump, to the Israel-Hamas war and the possibility of a two-state solution, to Obamacare and Social Security. 

CNN seemingly spent most of the night focused on "fact-checking" the governor — naturally. 

But I wanted to focus on a specific portion of the evening, when DeSantis spoke of his wife Casey's breast cancer diagnosis and the impact it had on their family. 

DeSantis shared a clip of that exchange on X/Twitter, noting, "Everything Casey had to go through, I did what I could to help the family, but as a husband, I wish I could have done the chemo for her so she didn’t have to."

Everything Casey had to go through, I did what I could to help the family, but as a husband, I wish I could have done the chemo for her so she didn’t have to. pic.twitter.com/YuKwFJYZ0s

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 13, 2023

Here was the full exchange: 

TAPPER: You and your wife, Casey, who's with us here tonight, have talked on the campaign trail about her breast cancer diagnosis in 2021 — thankfully, she is in remission, she's all good now....What was that experience like for your family? 

DESANTIS: Well, at the time of the diagnosis, we had a four-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old, and obviously, any of these diagnoses are tough, but I think when you're talking about breast cancer with a mother of young kids, it's especially devastating because you're thinking about: These kids may not have a mother. 

It was also a situation where my wife — she just has a sense. She felt something; she went to see the doctor; doctor cleared her; then she came back to me, and she said, "You know — I don't know..." And I was like, "You're fine." 'Cuz like, for me, if a doctor told me I'm fine, I would never think twice — I'd be off to the races. But she had a sense. So, she really fought for herself to be able to get a mammogram. And then when we — when she got it — it came back, unfortunately, with bad news. But had she not been willing to do that, who knows what would have ended up happening? 

And, so you know, it's...when you see somebody that you love go through the chemo, and it just sucks the life out of you, and everything she had to go through...as a husband, I'm there doing what I can to be the helping hand and to help with the family and everything. But you almost wish, like, I could do a chemo for her so she didn't have to do it all this time. 

But — it was not fun — but I'd say she's better than ever now with her health. So that's really all that matters and our prayers, people's prayers, were answered.

Thankfully, CNN didn't find it necessary to "fact-check" that portion of the evening. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with fact-checking candidates — politicians play notoriously fast and loose with facts and stats (hello, Joe, Gavin!) — but it's not exactly handled in an even-handed fashion by the legacy media. That's the troubling part. 

However, I think anyone watching this can see the genuine love and concern Ron DeSantis has for his wife and his family. And as strong as Casey's recovery has been, it's still a stark reminder of how serious health scares can upend our lives. A cancer diagnosis at any stage of life is distressing, but as someone who also went through breast cancer with a young (nine-year-old) child, I have some added empathy and admiration for Casey DeSantis — and for Ron DeSantis for being a supportive husband while also handling a demanding job.