Toronto Mayor Rob Ford hospitalized with tumor near abdomen

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was hospitalized with what doctors described as a tumor near his abdomen, and has apparently been battling stomach pain for months, hospital officials told reporters Wednesday night.

Ford, who finished a two-month stint in a rehabilitation facility in June, entered Humber River Hospital’s emergency department Wednesday, Dr. Rueben Devlin, the hospital’s chief executive officer, said during a news conference.

Devlin confirmed that doctors had located a tumor near Ford’s abdomen, but declined to comment on the exact nature of the tumor or Ford’s prognosis, citing the need for further investigation.

The mayor’s brother, City Councillor Doug Ford, appeared visibly shaken and spoke briefly, asking journalists not to pester his family in the coming days.

“It saddens me that I have to be here today, and Rob’s in good spirits and I just want to thank the well-wishers for all the calls that are coming in,” Doug Ford said.

Doug Ford said that he had breakfast with his brother Wednesday morning and that he had not heard his brother complain of stomach pains in recent weeks. But Devlin said the mayor had been suffering from abdominal pain for some time.

“He was having left lower quadrant abdominal pain, and as we said, it’s been going on for greater than three months but today it became unbearable,” Devlin said.

Devlin declined to say whether the mayor would require surgery. Asked repeatedly about the size, Devlin said that “it wasn’t a small tumor, but the size is not as relevant as what it is.”

Rob Ford was thrust into the global spotlight last year after videos surfaced showing him smoking what was believed to be crack cocaine and threatening to kill a man in a drunken rant. He has also been accused of making racially charged remarks to a cab driver.

Toronto’s City Council stripped Ford of most of his authority, including the power to set a city budget, in November as allegations of misconduct and substance abuse continued to mount.

Ford announced his intention to seek reelection in January, but he is trailing Canadian businessman and former mayoral candidate John Tory in polls.

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