HARRISBURG -- Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll of McKees Rocks announced this evening that she is being treated for a form of cancer called neuroendocrine illness.

Mrs. Knoll, 77, was first diagnosed in early July. She said that as of now she plans to continue with her duties as lieutenant governor, including presiding over the Senate when it returns in mid-September.

"Let me make it clear: I am being treated for cancer," she said in a letter addressed to "Pennsylvanians and Friends Beyond Our Borders."

"I'm going after it aggressively. So far, the results are encouraging."

Mrs. Knoll, a former state treasurer, said she's never missed a session of the Senate in her six years in office and "I continue to carry out these duties during my treatment."

Her aide, Sal Sirabella, said Mrs. Knoll "is having treatments on an outpatient basis in Harrisburg."

"The lieutenant governor is confident of a full recovery, like other challenges during her life of public service. Like other people who have faced this illness, she is confronting it openly," he said.

Mrs. Knoll wasn't planning to attend the Democratic National Convention next week. Mr. Sirabella said she had been thinking of giving away her convention credentials before this developed.

She is giving her credentials to Susan Rutt, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women.