Doctors ‘extremely pleased’ with Rob Ford’s recovery
Councillor cleared to work a couple of days a week and ramp back to full-time schedule
City councillor and former Toronto mayor Rob Ford is making good progress after cancer surgery this spring and will return to work sooner than expected.
“His doctors have said that they are extremely pleased with his progress, and they are surprised at how far he has come in the recovery process in such a short period of time,” Dan Jacobs, his chief of staff, said in a statement Thursday night.
Ford, 46, has been cleared to work between one and two days a week, “and to gradually increase his workload back to a full-time level.”
It’s unclear if Ford will be well enough to attend next week’s council meeting.
After months of chemotherapy and radiation, Ford underwent a10-hour operation at Mount Sinai Hospital on May 11 to remove a cancerous tumour in his abdomen.
It was originally estimated that Ford would need the summer to recover before returning to city hall in September.
The councillor received the good news when he returned to Mount Sinai on Thursday for a followup appointment with his doctors.
“His wound has healed very well, and while there is no longer a need for additional drainage he will continue to wear an abdominal binder for some time,” the statement said.
Ford was diagnosed with cancer last fall in the midst of his campaign to get re-elected as mayor. He had been complaining of “left, lower quadrant abdominal pain” for three months before the pain became “unbearable” one morning, Humber River Hospital’s president and CEO Dr. Rueben Devlin told a news conference on Sept. 10.
Abandoning his quest to retain the mayor’s chair, Ford ran instead for his old council seat Ward 2 (Etobicoke North), and won by a large margin. Doug Ford, his older brother and a former Ward 2 councillor, ran in his place and came second to Mayor John Tory.
Since his surgery, Ford has made several appearances at city hall, in- cluding last month during council’s contentious debate and vote on the future of the eastern portion of the Gardiner expressway. Ford, in characteristic form, was the only councillor to vote to maintain the expressway.
Council rejected Ford’s motion to keep the Gardiner, opting instead for the so-called hybrid option.
The statement issued Thursday night said Ford thanks his medical team “and to everyone who has continued to offer their whole-hearted support throughout his recovery.”
Ford, a married father of two, was elected Toronto’s 64th mayor (and third mayor of the amalgamated megacity) in October 2010 after serving 10 years as councillor for Ward 2.
Ford has said previously if he is well enough, he will be a contender in the 2018 mayor’s race.