Cohen would not say what the chances are of a full recovery. He said he is “optimistic,” but he also said Ford has a “very rare tumour and a very difficult tumour.”

The tumour is “fairly aggressive,” he said, and has likely been present for two or three years. It is about 12 centimetres by 12 centimetres. The cancer is not in the colon or liver.

  Cohen, speaking at a news conference at Mount Sinai Hospital, said Ford will receive chemotherapy for three days, then have an 18-day “washout period.” He said he is not sure if the treatment will eventually involve radiation or surgery.

  Ford, who withdrew from the mayoral election on Friday, was hospitalized a week ago. He is now a council candidate in Ward 2 (Etobicoke North).

  Ford, 45, said earlier in the week that he was vomiting and in pain. He suggested his condition was dire, telling the Toronto Sun, “I guess the good Lord wants me somewhere else.”

Rob Ford said in 2009 that he had a tumour on his appendix. Cohen said he did not: it was actually appendicitis. Cohen said issues of previous personal health have “no known association” with sarcomas.

  Rob Ford has two children under the age of 10.

    Doug Ford  replaced his younger brother on the mayoral election ballot. He has not yet formally begun campaigning.

“My brother has been diagnosed with cancer and I can't begin to share how devastating this has been for Rob and our family. He is an incredible person, husband, father, brother and son and he remains upbeat and determined to fight this,” he said in a statement.”

  “Rob has always been so strong for all of us and now I ask us all to be strong for him. Your kind words and well wishes mean everything to him right now. Rob will beat this.”

Doug Ford, brother Randy Ford, mother Diane Ford, and the mayor’s wife Renata Ford visited the mayor in the hospital ahead of the announcement.

“We have a lot of faith in the doctors and we have a lot of faith in God,” Renata Ford said.

  Unless he takes a formal leave of absence, Rob Ford will remain in charge of the city until the new mayor is sworn in December 1. Deputy Mayor       Norm Kelly  is the city’s de facto leader, having been assigned most of the mayor’s powers in November.

  The Fords’ father, former MPP Doug Ford Sr., died of colon cancer in 2006, three months after he was diagnosed.

“The most important thing, most important thing, is your health,” Rob Ford said in his speech at the wedding of assistant Jerry Agyemang in August. “Friends, you can have everything in the world. If you haven’t got your health you don’t have very much.”

A scheduled evening debate between mayoral candidates John Tory and Olivia Chow was cancelled in the early afternoon. Tory and Chow are both planning to respond to the Ford news on a street corner behind city hall after 5:30 p.m.