Toronto

Very soon the world will know the status of Mayor Rob Ford’s health and what doctors plan to do about it.

Mayor Ford and his family already know and are bracing themselves for difficult times ahead.

The goal of Ford’s family last night was to cheer him up.

“He is pretty down in the dumps,” Councillor Doug Ford said Tuesday. “I came over to give him a boost.”

Hang in there, Rob. There are a lot of people praying for you.

The details of what the mayor is facing will be explained by doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital Wednesday at 5 p.m.

But the mayor has not hidden the fact that he is expecting the worst.

“It’s not good,” he said of what doctors told him originally.

However, he has also told me he will beat this.

Doug Ford said family members have encouraged him to fight on.

“I told him to treat it the same as politics or an election campaign,” his brother Doug said. “It’s a battle, but I know — like in politics — he can win.”

No one has officially confirmed what has been speculated about the mayor’s health and what may be behind his abdominal tumour and his secondary biopsy of his lungs.

“I will let the doctors explain it,” said Doug.

Sources say “the options being considered over the next few weeks could be challenging for the mayor but necessary.”

The look on his poor mother Diane’s face when she comes and goes from the hospital is difficult to watch. It’s clear she’s suffering.

Ford’s wife, Renata, was trying to put on a brave face Tuesday when she came to visit, saying, “We are keeping our spirits up.”

The mayor’s children, Dougie and Stephanie, were in to see him on the weekend.

Doug Ford said one of the things buoying the family is all of the outpouring of support from the public.

“We appreciate it so much,” he said, adding the mayor is aware many people are praying for him.

One of the biggest supporters behind the scenes, said Doug, is mayoral candidate Olivia Chow, who has been “amazing.” Mayor Ford, said Doug, thinks highly of her.

“She has been so kind,” said Doug. “She is a great lady.”

Chow told me that she and her late husband, Jack Layton, always had great affection for the mayor — perhaps not in political philosophy but in approach and personality.

“I will never forget when Jack died, Rob cried like a baby. He was really hurting about it," Chow said. "I also appreciated all of his work behind the scenes on the memorial for Jack. Rob told me at that time, anything we needed, he would do.”

She said he came through on it.

Chow said she is hopeful the mayor can make it through this rough patch and get well.

She also said she will give Doug Ford all the time he needs to deal with his family issues and will not engage him in the mayoral election campaign until he’s ready. Since he is on the ballot and announced his intentions to run, John Tory has taken the other approach and decided to politically attack Doug Ford on a couple of occasions.

Different strokes for different folks.

Doug Ford said he preferred Chow’s sympathetic approach since he is unable right now to respond. As for Doug Ford’s campaign, he said, he is still undecided when to get started on it.

“I am going to stay focused on Rob’s health and we will do that later,” he said, adding there will be no big kickoff. The Ford Fest party is scheduled for Sept. 27, but even that will be assessed next week, depending on how the mayor is doing.

Doug Ford said his running is merely to make sure a Ford is on the ballot since Mayor Ford can’t run. Rob Ford has told me he asked his brother to finish the campaign for him.

Doug Ford said reports that there was a contingency plan to have him run instead of Rob are “inaccurate.” He said up until their breakfast last week when Rob was complaining about a pain in his stomach, it was a “full tilt” effort for his brother to run to the end.

This has changed.

But, Doug Ford said, the election campaign will have to wait.

Once doctors reveal the plan Wednesday, “we will focus on that and try to get through that and then we will deal with it.”

Check back for updates from Mount Sinai on Wednesday: