Former Toronto mayor-turned-city councilor Rob Ford – who announced in 2014 he had cancer – has been hospitalized, a spokesman said Thursday.
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Canadian hip-hop icon Maestro also offered his support.
Ford’s family joined him in the hospital as he continues to battle the disease.
Ford’s chief of staff, Dan Jacobs, followed up the statement with a tweet saying it had been released in response to “rumours now circulating on social media”.
There were also more than 3,300 messages posted on a website the family set up to gather well-wishes for Ford.
Ford is suffering from a type of malignant liposarcoma – a cancer that has spread to his bladder from his abdomen.
Ford’s office asked for privacy and said it would issue a news release if there are any further updates regarding the Ward 2 councillor’s health. The method involves oncologists giving mice the same tumor to determine the best treatment for a patient by testing different drugs on the rodent.
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Ford was diagnosed with cancer in September 2014, less than a year after he confessed to smoking crack while in one of his “drunken stupors”. Ford underwent extensive chemotherapy to shrink the tumour and the operation in May removed the remainder of it. The tumors that have returned were described as being 5 and 7 centimeters in size.
