Former long-time Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said Thursday afternoon that he was suspending his cancer treatments.
Menino said in a statement that he and his family Thursday, after talking with his medical team, had 'decided to suspend my book tour as well as my cancer treatments. While I continue to fight this terrible disease, I feel it is time for me to spend more time with my family, grandkids, and friends.'
Continue reading below
The 71-year-old Menino, who stepped down from office in January after 20 years, said his doctors at the Brigham and Women's Hospital along with those at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have been 'amazing in their care and treatment of me and the many other patients and families that suffer from cancer.'
'I am hopeful and optimistic that one day the talented researchers, doctors and medical professionals in this city will find a cure for this awful disease. Angela and I are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support and kindness shown to our family and ask that everyone keep us in their thoughts and prayers,' the statement said.
The statement offered no further details.
Continue reading it below
A former insurance salesman, Thomas M. Menino became one of the most powerful figures in Boston history.
The Globe reported in March that Menino, the 'urban mechanic' who loved both the city and his job, had been diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer that had spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
The Globe reported Tuesday that Menino had been hospitalized for several days with dehydration that might be related to a new cancer treatment, according to his spokeswoman. Menino was admitted last Thursday.
Menino had suffered a variety of health problems in the past few years.
In late 2012, he fell ill on a vacation in Italy. He was diagnosed with a respiratory infection and a blood clot. While hospitalized, he suffered a compression fracture in a vertebra, and he was later diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It was eight weeks before he was released from the hospital.
His doctors said those ailments were not related to his current cancer. They also said his current cancer, whose primary origin was unknown, was unrelated to two previous bouts with cancer.
Menino broke ground as the city's first Italian-American mayor and was known as a detail-oriented chief executive who pushed for improvements to the city's neighborhoods. He never moved from his modest house in the city's Hyde Park section. While he acknowledged he was not a 'fancy talker,' he kept a firm hand on the city's tiller - and kept on winning reelection.
He had recently released 'Mayor for a New America,' an autobiography written in collaboration with Jack Beatty.
In March 2013, Menino announced he would not seek reelection to office.
'I am here with the people I love, to tell the city I love, that I will leave the job that I love,' he told a crowd packed into historic Faneuil Hall.
He said at the time that after his illnesses in 2012 he could not not keep up his grueling 'Menino schedule' and he didn't want to do the job at less than full speed.
'I miss hitting every event, ribbon cutting, new homeowner's dinner, school play, and chance meeting,' he said at the event. 'Spending so much time in the neighborhoods gives me energy. Being with our residents builds our trust. It may not be the only way to lead Boston, but it's the only way for me.'
He said he was 'humbled and grateful' for the chance to serve as mayor and 'I will be very proud if I have changed our city in some ways that last.'
