Sad news from the Globe last night, former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has suspended cancer treatments and will be entering palliative care.
The former Mayor kept busy with a memoir and an urban policy initiative at Boston University. Sadly, he was hospitalized shortly after the start of his book tour where he finally made his decision to accept palliative care.
But as Menino embarked on a book tour last week in New York City, cancer and the treatment regimen had clearly taken their toll. He used a wheelchair, and his voice was often reduced to a rasp because of laryngitis.
Upon returning to Boston, he was hospitalized with dehydration at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is receiving palliative care, and doctors have told the former mayor the next step is hospice care.
“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,” Menino said in a statement issued by his former press secretary, Dot Joyce.
Current Mayor Marty Walsh had a very nice statement:
Mayor Martin J. Walsh spoke to Menino on Thursday evening and said the former mayor asked about recovery efforts in the wake of intense rain squalls.
“He was worried about how bad was the flooding and if we were able to clear the trees,” Walsh told reporters outside an event at Faneuil Hall. “Once you’re elected mayor, you’re always mayor of Boston. He’s a fighter. He’s going to continue to fight. I could hear it in his voice on the phone.”
A lot more can be said about his legacy as Mayor, there will be plenty of time for that later. Personally, I always found him to be a far more humble and intelligent man than the media portrayed, one firmly committed to liberal principles. But, for now I wish him and his family more good times and peace.