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But Jacobs insists that, while Ford’s office has asked for the city’s prayers, further treatment does remain possible.

“The guy’s not jumping up and doing jumping jacks, but the doctor and the family are all still hopeful. No one’s given up hope,” he said. “The primary goal is to regain his strength in the hopes to be able to resume the chemotherapy treatment. ”

Rumours began circulating Thursday on Reddit and Twitter that Ford, who served a single, scandal-plagued term as mayor, had died. To counter them, Jacobs issued a press release Thursday afternoon. But the wording of that release—”(w)ith his family beside him, Councillor Ford is currently in hospital as he continues his battle against cancer” — fuelled rumours of its own, namely that Ford, while still alive, was on the brink of death.

But Jacobs said Friday that that’s not necessarily the case.

“He’s not in good shape, but there’s been no change at all since yesterday, and I think the condition he’s in can be anticipated considering the duration and the aggressive treatment that he’s gone through to date,” he said.

“He’s been in hospital for the last few weeks, since he was last admitted for chemotherapy a few weeks ago he has not been discharged…

“I think people just thought he was discharged and he was readmitted under some kind of urgent care. But what’s actually happened is he’s been here the whole time.”

Ford was initially diagnosed with a rare form of liposarcoma in September 2014. He underwent chemotherapy then later had surgery to remove a large tumour from his abdomen. Last fall, he was diagnosed with two new cancerous growths and has since undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy, none of which have proven effective so far.