Horgan back at work after cancer surgery

John Horgan is recovered from his surgery for bladder cancer and is back at work.

The NDP MLA for Malahat Juan de Fuca returned to the Legislature last week to wrap up work on the report issued by the bipartisan budget committee that toured the province in the fall.

Horgan said the operation went as well as expected, with surgeons scraping off multiple tumors. Chance of recurrence for bladder cancer is about 50 per cent, he said, but further treatment reduces that by about 10 per cent.

“It’s a non-invasive low grade of cancer,” Horgan said. “The prognosis is about as good as it’s going to be. My urologist said we will be spending a lot of quality time together.”

Horgan, 49, who lives in Langford, admits he was going a bit stir crazy while recovering for the past three weeks, but said the nerve-wracking experience has given him a new outlook on life.

Horgan said he was overwhelmed from the outpouring of support from colleagues from both parties. He was particularly touched by a card from former Forest Minister Rich Coleman, who Horgan has attacked over tree farm licences near Jordan River and Sooke.

“The response has been overwhelming from old friends and old enemies,” he said.

Clarifications and corrections

Highlands council candidate Ron Doak injured his lower back after a fall of a ladder. The incident did not involve hanging campaign signs as suggested in the Nov. 5 issue.

In the Oct. 24 issue regarding an abandoned boat on Thetis Lake, Metchosin Search and Rescue was involved in the search for the boat’s owners.