B.C. Premier John Horgan plans to stay on as the leader of his party and the province, should it be the will of the people, during his ongoing battle with cancer.
Horgan, who recently underwent 35 radiation sessions in his battle with throat cancer, isn’t out of the woods yet. He has to go for more scans in the coming months to see if the treatments were successful.
When it comes to his political role, Horgan said, “My plan is to keep going until people don’t want me to do it anymore.”
“I’m fairly certain that if people get tired of me, they’ll let me know and I’ll take my lead from them. But my plan is to keep going. I love the work, I’ve got energy, and every day is a new experience for me,” he told OMNI News.
This isn’t Horgan’s first bout with cancer. He previously battled bladder cancer.
“I have to say that was a walk in the park compared to this one,” he said.
“Having throat cancer, which is very common and increasingly so among the general population, I assumed it would have been because I used to be a smoker. But the oncologist said, ‘No, no … good thing you’re not a smoker anymore, but that wasn’t your issue here.’ It’s the human papillomavirus (HPV). That’s the dominant throat cancer these days.”
‘I could see it on her face’: Horgan candid about hardest part of dealing with cancer
Horgan went through 35 radiation treatments after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in November.
“It was every day of the week and twice on Thursday,” he said, adding treatments continued over the Christmas holidays.
“Every day … tick off a day on the calendar, one less day of radiation. I just kept focusing on on getting back to work and again, making sure that that my wife was able to relax, that I was okay.”
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The premier lost nearly 30 pounds as a result of the radiation treatments.
“I lost my appetite. The radiation was focused on my throat, so swallowing was very difficult. I still have no sense of taste. I have difficulty producing moisture in my mouth. So I’m drinking water all the time. Those were physical challenges,” he described.
But the hardest part, Horgan says, has been seeing his wife worry about him.
“As patient, you do what you’re told, right? Whether it be your doctors or your caregivers. But when you’re a loved one and you see someone you care about struggling, I could see it on her face. And that made it more difficult for me because I worried about her worrying about me … But she’s looking much better because I’m looking much better and very happy to be back at work.”
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The premier says he has a 90 per cent likelihood of success as a result of his treatment, though “it has been a difficult journey.”
Having a life-changing diagnosis such as cancer puts things into perspective, he adds.
“Every day is special, we always say that. But when you’ve had someone say to you, ‘You have cancer’ — and now twice they’ve said that to me — it does focus your mind and you want to get as much done as you can to help as many people as you can. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than continuing as premier of B.C.”
