Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to undergo intense chemotherapy soon

Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has cancer and will undergo intense chemotherapy within 48 hours, his doctor announced Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Dr. Zane Cohen of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto said Ford has a rare form of cancer called liposarcoma, which begins in fat cells, most commonly in the abdomen.

Doctors believe Ford is battling a “fairly aggressive” tumor, based on its size.

“These types of tumors are often slow-growing,” Cohen said. “To get to the size that it is now, it’s often several years.”

A CT scan from 2011 did not show the tumor, Cohen said, and doctors believe it developed in the last two to three years.

Asked by reporters how Ford is coping, Cohen said, “I think he’s reacting like any patient would react. It’s difficult.”

Ford was thrust into the global spotlight last year after videos surfaced showing him smoking what was believed to be crack cocaine and threatening to kill a man in a drunken rant. He has also been accused of making racially charged remarks to a cab driver.

Toronto’s City Council stripped Ford of most of his authority, including the power to set a city budget, in November as allegations of misconduct and substance abuse continued to mount.

Ford had complained for about three months of abdominal pains, but doctors believe the tumor has been present for longer.

Last week, after news broke that he had been hospitalized with a tumor, Ford withdrew from the mayor’s race and said his brother, Doug, would run for the post instead.

“I can’t give it my all at this point,” Rob Ford said in a statement about his withdrawal, but that he was running for City Council because he didn’t want to “turn his back” on his constituents.

Cohen declined to discuss whether he would advise Ford to continue working and campaigning for office. The election is on Oct. 27.

“I can’t recommend yes or no,” Cohen said, adding that he believes Ford might be able to work through and be functional during the treatment.

“He’s going to have some tough days, but I think he’ll have more good days than bad days,” Cohen told reporters.

In a statement, Doug Ford called the news “devastating,” but said his brother “remains upbeat and determined” to fight the cancer.

“Rob has always been so strong for all of us, and now I ask us all to be strong for him,” Doug Ford said, according to the Associated Press.

Ford will be undergoing chemotherapy at Mount Sinai, Cohen said, which will involve three days of chemotherapy at a time, possibly an extra day in the hospital, and then 17 days out of the hospital before the next cycle begins.

Cohen said doctors are hoping to shrink the tumor, which is about 4.5 square inches, before operating on it. Cohen also said a smaller, separate tumor has spread to another part of the body, but declined to elaborate.

Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this post.

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