Surgeons remove tumour from ex-MP’s brain
Former Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar is being treated for brain cancer, he revealed Saturday morning.
The first symptom he felt was numbness in his arm, he wrote in a public Facebook post, which he put down to tiredness from a 36-kilometre skate on the Rideau Canal on Jan. 26.
But instead of getting better, the numbness persisted.
“On Monday February 5, I went to the Ottawa Civic Hospital to have my arm examined. X-rays, and then a CT scan, revealed a cyst on the right side of (my) brain,” Dewar wrote. “A follow up MRI revealed it was a tumour.”
On Wednesday, surgeons removed it.
“While this cancer is devastating news, I am going to pursue the next phase of my treatment with determination, passion and an appreciation for life,” Dewar said.
His post didn’t specify what form of cancer he has. Brain tumours come in many forms — different sorts of cancerous cells, in different parts of the brain, growing at different rates — with a wide range of prognoses. That the tumour could be removed surgically is a good sign but not as important as the type of cancer. Five-year survival rates range from five per cent to more than 85 per cent.
“Everyone of us knows someone who has had cancer and each journey is personal. People ask what they can do. If you can, please consider getting involved in something that will help your neighbourhood. Look for the beauty that exists all around us and share it with each other,” Dewar wrote.
Dewar did write that he looks forward to getting “back to my usual level of physical and community activity” over a few months.
Aged 55, Dewar is a distance runner, cyclist and skater. Since his surgery, he’s been tweeting busily about the Olympics.
Dewar was the New Democratic Party MP for Ottawa Centre for nine years, until he lost his seat to Liberal Catherine McKenna in the 2015 election. A former teacher and union leader, he’s also the son of Ottawa’s late former mayor Marion Dewar.
Since he left federal politics, he’s joined the board of Human Rights Watch and consulted abroad on democratic reforms. He’s also been touted as a possible left-wing challenger to Jim Watson for the mayor’s office this year, and in January he said he was actively thinking about running.
Watson, among many others, wished Dewar a speedy recovery.
Dewar’s diagnosis was also the talk of the federal NDP’s convention in Ottawa, where MPs Charlie Angus and Hélène Laverdière announced the news and delegates stood to show their support with applause.
With supportive family and friends, Dewar wrote, “I am perched by the side of a strong flowing river of love that gives me the courage and inspiration to take on this challenge.”