Rob Ford cancer fight ‘hard ’

Mayor Rob Ford showed up for work on Wednesday afternoon, and spoke to reporters outside his office for about 10 minutes, saying he’d stayed up until 3 a.m. pounding in reelection lawn signs in his old ward of Rexdale, where he is once again running for city councillor.

Looking ashen and barely able to open his eyes at some points, the mayor said that fighting cancer is the toughest challenge that he has faced in 45 years. And the hardest part of the fight has been talking to his two children, he said.

“It’s explaining to my kids what a will is. It’s terrible. It’s hard. It’s emotionally hard. They hear about things like that. Obviously, they Google it.… Stephanie’s now 10 and Dougie’s seven. They know what’s going on at 10 and seven. And it’s heartbreaking at times. They say stuff. ‘Who’s going to tuck me in at night?’ ‘Who’s going to take care of us?’ Some nights, I just cry myself to sleep.”

The mayor spoke in front of his office at city hall, where every square inch of the glass wall is covered with getwell-soon cards from wellwishers, featuring puppies, kittens, poppies, lighthouses, birds, rabbits, butterflies, a penguin, Jesus Christ, and watering cans.

“I open up every single get-well card. People have the time to send them to me, I have the time to read it. I really appreciate it. People still want to meet with me and talk to me. I am trying to do my best. I gotta go in again next week for another five days of chemo, and that’s it, so it’s a challenge, but you gotta do it.

“My biggest concern is my health,” the mayor said. “I am going to beat this cancer. I was up in Rexdale last night, putting up signs in my old neighbourhood at midnight. I was telling people what to do, I hammered in a couple myself. It felt a little different. I saw a lot of my old constituents. It was great. I just wish the election was held today.”

Later, Mayor Ford revealed to reporters that doctors told him that his cancer has an average survival rate of 50/50.

“I always look at it as the glass is half full. I’m just going to give it everything I have,” said Mr. Ford, who was on his way to a retirement party. He was going to try to attend the evening mayoral debate to support his brother, but would take attending any debates in his own ward race one day at a time.

“Last night it was a hard night. Very hard. Today I had a little bit more energy,” he said.

He also invited reporters to join a betting pool he has going for the election.

He picked Doug Ford to win with 46%, followed by John Tory with 36%, Olivia Chow at 18%, and all other candidates at 5% (although, it adds up to more than 100).

His wife, Renata, gave Doug Ford 45%, Mr. Tory 23%, Ms. Chow 30%, and other candidates 2%.