TORONTO, March 19 (UPI) -- Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is not responding to his chemotherapy treatments, his chief of staff, Dan Jacobs, said.
Jacobs told the CBC Ford, 46, is not healthy enough to undergo the next phase of treatment, but doctors hope he will soon improve enough to try another round of medication.
"The tumor was not responding so they didn't administer the last treatment," Jacobs wrote in an email to USA Today. "Doctors decided to let him build up his strength while they decided the next course of treatment."
Jacobs added that Ford, now a Toronto city councillor, was sleeping, but unresponsive as family members spent the night with him at the hospital.
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Ford was forced to withdraw from the Mayoral race in 2014 after being diagnosed with a form of cancer known as liposarcoma, which aggressively grows in fat cells. He had the tumors removed in 2015, but was later hospitalized again with two tumors on his bladder.
He gained notoriety in Nov. 2013, when he admitted to smoking crack after a video appeared to show him using a crack pipe. He also raised a few eyebrows inviting the public to a bachelor party for his niece's fiancé in 2015.
Former mayor and political rival David Miller sent condolences to Ford and his family while speaking to CP24.
"Everybody's thoughts are with Councillor Ford. I have given my thoughts directly to him and his family," he said. "I particularly feel for his wife and kids. I just hope everybody is thinking of them and of his health."
