Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has left Mount Sinai Hospital where he underwent the first round of chemotherapy to treat what has been called a rare and particularly "difficult" form of cancer in his abdomen, the mayor’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
"He has returned home, and is resting with his family at this time," the statement said. Ford was hospitalized this month and was set to undergo two rounds of chemotherapy — separated by an 18-day break — to try and shrink a large liposarcoma in his abdomen that has spread to his buttock. Liposarcomas account for 1 percent of cancers and grow in soft tissue like fat, blood vessels and muscles — not organs, Dr. Zane Cohen told reporters last week.
Ford planned to run for re-election even though he admitted to smoking crack cocaine and other misdeeds, but he withdrew after being hospitalized — and asked his brother, Doug, to run instead. Last Thursday, hours before he was set to begin treatment, Ford released an audio message to the city, vowing to defeat his illness and urging people to vote for his brother.
In Tuesday’s statement, Ford thanked hospital staff but also included a message to families dealing with cancer. "Most of all, Mayor Ford would like to express his gratitude for the overwhelming outpouring of support from the people of Toronto. He wishes other families who are suffering from similar circumstances all the best in their ongoing battles."
