Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 19, 1994                   TAG: 9403210182
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                  LENGTH: Short

KEITH TO HAVE ANOTHER BRAIN TUMOR SURGERY

Keith said he is having additional surgery because parts of a benign tumor that was operated on in 1992 have grown back.

Keith, 43, will have surgery in a North Carolina hospital on Monday and expects to return to work in early May.

"The last time they had to leave part of it," Keith said, and the tumor continued to grow. A surgeon will remove most of that growth; Keith will then undergo radiation to shrink what is left.

Keith said he expects to be hospitalized for five days, then recuperate for four weeks. Keith says he has at least that much unused vacation time saved up. He is optimistic about the success of the surgery.

Keith's assistants, Skip Schwab and Peggy Frank, will oversee the office while Keith is out, and Bob Viar, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney, has agreed to return to the office temporarily.

"The office shouldn't suffer at all," Keith said.

Keith's tumor was first discovered in 1983 and for eight years, he had no serious problems. But in 1992, Keith said he decided to have surgery after experiencing some numbness on his left side and developing a limp. Most of the benign tumor was removed then.