WAUKESHA, Wis. — Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow was diagnosed last month with a rare form of cancer called Mucinous Adenocarcinoma.
He said his is stage four.
Right now, the cancer is in the fiber of his abdominal wall and Farrow said doctors are working vigorously to treat it.
Farrow is documenting his journey including his first chemotherapy treatment last week. It comes less than a month after first being diagnosed. He said he’ll never forget the moment he heard of his diagnosis. He said he was in his office when the doctor called.
“It hit me pretty hard, you hear the word cancer, and you are like, oh no, now what?” he said.
After the initial shock, County Executive Farrow said he decided he needed to go public with the news.
He said he encourages people to listen to their bodies and said after months of having stomach issues he ended up in the emergency room, only to find out the news.
Farrow said the support he’s received has been overwhelming and he hopes to offer the same for others.
“I want to let people know that individuals dealing with cancer, sympathy is nice but support is even better, prayers are great,” he said.
Farrow said he has no plans at this point of stepping down.
“Our goal is to continue doing the work for the people of Waukesha County hopefully behind this desk as much as possible there will be days that I work from home especially during the chemotherapy,” he said.
Farrow said he’s relying on his faith and the love he has for his family to get through this.
“My boys are now grown, my oldest son is now married, he’s got a family and in fact he is starting a great new position this week and my youngest son is getting married next year,” he said. “I think we are still trying to figure out what the impact is, my wife and I have been dealing with this now for just over a month so there are still nuances that we are going to have to work through,” Farrow said.