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Two Mormon apostles were fighting serious medical problems Friday.

L. Tom Perry — who, at 92, is the oldest LDS apostle and second in line for the Utah-based faith's presidency — began radiation treatment Friday after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the church announced on its newsroom website.

Perry had been hospitalized briefly Wednesday after having trouble breathing.

Meanwhile, Richard G. Scott, 86, was hospitalized Thursday evening for gastrointestinal bleeding. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the bleeding was brought under control and he is resting comfortably.

"They are grateful for the prayers and kindnesses expressed on their behalf," the church said in a news release.

Perry, a Logan native, was tapped as an LDS apostle in 1974 at age 51. Scott, who was born in Pocatello, Idaho, became an apostle in 1988 at age 59.

At the church's General Conference earlier this month, Scott did not speak or attend for health reasons.

Perry spoke and warned about the need to defend "traditional families" — a legally married mother and father, who rear their children together — and about the dangers of "counterfeit and alternative lifestyles."

"Strong traditional families are not only the basic units of a stable society, a stable economy and a stable culture of values," Perry said, "but ... they are also the basic units of eternity, and of the kingdom and government of God."

The 6-foot-4 church leader, the tallest current Mormon apostle, took some heat for that sermon from national and Utah LGBT activists, who accused him of "disparaging" their families.

In March, Perry stood shoulder to shoulder with gay-rights advocates after the Legislature passed — and Gov. Gary Herbert signed — a landmark measure protecting LGBT individuals from housing and employment discrimination while also providing some religious-freedom safeguards.

After earning a degree in business from Utah State University, Perry climbed the business ladder, becoming a top executive in several department stores and eventually entering full-time LDS Church service.

The three members of the governing First Presidency along with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — of which Perry is the second-ranking member behind 90-year-old Boyd K. Packer — make up the top two ruling councils of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The average age of the 15 men in those bodies is 80, the oldest it has ever been in the 185-year-old church.

Scott is a nuclear engineer. From 1953 to 1965, he served on the immediate staff of Adm. Hyman Rickover, directing the development of nuclear fuel for a wide variety of naval and land-based power plants.

Before becoming an apostle, he was a member of the faith's First Quorum of the Seventy and also a mission president in Argentina.

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