PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his assistant said today.

Court administrator Michelle Moore said that Verser told her doctors said the cancer was between Stage I and Stage II.

Stage IV is the most severe.

“They caught it early so there is a good chance that it can be treated,” Moore said.

“I talked to him earlier today and he sounded great.”

Verser, 62, was discharged today from the University of Washington Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been hospitalized since July 22.

He and his wife, Joyce, who he married in a small courtroom ceremony in February, planned to return to their home in Port Townsend, Moore said.

“He is a candidate for surgery, but it isn’t yet decided who and where that will take place,” she said.

Surgery would take approximately eight hours followed by a week of hospitalization as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Moore said.

“The judge is anxious to get back to work but I told him that I have things under control,” Moore said.

Verser was initially hospitalized July 19 in Kalispell, Mont., where he had traveled with his wife after her mother died.

He was admitted to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center with a complex abdominal situation that included a suspicious spot on his pancreas, Moore said.

He was released July 22 with medication and a care plan and returned home, but the symptoms recurred.

Cards for Verser can be sent in care of Michelle Moore, Superior Court, P.O. Box 1220, Port Townsend, WA 98368.

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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.