Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been admitted to hospital following a working diagnosis of a tumour, Humber River Hospital said in a statement Wednesday evening.
According to the statement released by Dr. Rueben Devlin, president and CEO of the hospital, Ford had been complaining of abdominal pains “that have persisted for at least three months and have become worse in the last 24 hours.”
Ford was admitted for further investigation into his condition.
His brother Coun. Doug Ford and Devlin will hold a news conference at the hospital’s site on Church Street at 7:20 p.m. ET.
Ford has had several prior stints in hospital since being elected mayor. In July, he visited a hospital for what was described as a toe injury. He was expected to be having surgery for that at a later date.
In 2012, he received treatment for a throat problem that aggravated his asthma. The previous year, Ford went to hospital after suffering symptoms of kidney stones.
The 45-year-old father of two is in the midst of running for re-election as mayor. In November, Ford admitted to using crack cocaine after more than a year of denials.
Ford spent more than two months in an addictions rehabilitation centre earlier this year. After completing treatment in July, Ford said he had stopped using alcohol and crack cocaine and that he was "healthy as a horse."
Ford was elected as the mayor of Toronto in 2010. He had previously spent a decade serving as a city councillor in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, where he lives with his family.
More to come