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TORONTO (AP) — A doctor will provide a medical update on controversial Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's tumor on Wednesday, Ford's brother said.
The mayor has been hospitalized since last Wednesday with a tumor in his abdomen. Biopsy results were expected to take a week.
Ford withdrew his re-election bid Friday as he seeks treatment, dramatically ending a campaign he had doggedly pursued despite a stint in rehab and calls for him to quit amid drug and alcohol scandals.
Ford's brother, city councilor Doug Ford, said outside the hospital on Tuesday that a doctor will provide an update Wednesday at about 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT).
"It's extremely tough right now. Our family is strong, Rob is strong and with all the support of the people that's what keeps us going," Doug Ford said. "He's having a tough go of it right now."
The mayor complained of stomach pain while eating breakfast with his brother last week and checked himself into a hospital. Rob Ford has previously said that he was hospitalized in 2009 for a tumor on his appendix, leading to its removal along with part of his colon. Doug Ford Sr., the mayor's farther, died of colon cancer in 2006.
Ford, 45, became an international celebrity last year when the Toronto Star and the U.S. website Gawker reported the existence of a video apparently showing the mayor inhaling from a crack pipe. He denied the existence of the video for months but finally admitted to using crack in a "drunken stupor" after police announced they had obtained it. When reports emerged this year of a second video showing him apparently smoking crack, Ford entered rehab for two months and returned to work and campaigning in June.
The Fords announced last week that Doug Ford will now run for mayor and Rob will seek a City Council seat representing a district in his home suburb of Etobicoke. Doug Ford hasn't started campaigning for the Oct. 27 election since he announced he would run for mayor.
"I just want to get over this hump on Wednesday and we'll go from there," Doug said.
Jeff Silverstein, a spokesman for Doug's campaign, said the Ford family won't be with the doctor when the update is provided.
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