Toronto Coun. Rob Ford learned from doctors today that he’ll be able to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his abdomen.
Ford was told by his medical team that surgery will be possible.
“I got good news today,” Ford said when speaking with reporters outside Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, after he had spoken to his doctors. “The operation will take place on Monday, May 11.”
Coun. Rob Ford arrives in his Cadillac Escalade ahead of his meeting with doctors at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital today. (CBC)
Ford said his operation will involve four surgeons and could last up to 10 hours.
The surgery will put him “out of commission” for about four months, he said.
The former mayor said that doctors had informed him his tumour had shrunk enough after treatment to make surgery possible, while a second tumour has “pretty well disappeared.”
Ford said the meeting with his doctors had left him in good spirits.
“I’m just lucky to be alive today and I’m just lucky that I’m getting another chance at life,” he said.
The councillor thanked his family and the public for their support while he has been ill.
Ford, who turns 46 next month, was diagnosed with liposarcoma last fall and underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Treatment ‘knocked down’ tumour
In September, doctors described Ford’s abdominal tumour as being approximately 12 centimetres by 12 centimetres in size. On Thursday, the councillor said that following treatment, his tumour had been “knocked down” to a size of “5.6 centimetres by 5.3 centimetres by 4.6 centimetres.”
Ford ended up dropping his bid for re-election as mayor in the wake of his cancer diagnosis. Instead, Ford ran for a council seat and was elected as the councillor in Ward 2.
The dramatic turn of events saw his brother Doug take his place in the mayoral race, but Mayor John Tory won the election.
Ford’s cancer diagnosis followed a turbulent year in which he went into rehab nearly a year after the start of a drug-related scandal involving crack cocaine that wound up making him a world-famous politician.
