VANOC chairman Jack Poole undergoes surgery, recovering at home

[mr.x]

Vancouver Olympic chairman Jack Poole undergoes surgery, recovering at home
Illness unrelated to previous bouts with cancer

By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
July 14, 2009 4:17 PM

VANCOUVER — Jack Poole, the 76-year-old chairman of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee who twice survived bouts of cancer, recently underwent surgery for an undisclosed illness and is at home recovering.

Vanoc officials on Tuesday characterized his surgery as “straight forward” and “unrelated to his previous medical conditions.”

News of Poole's health problems came out a day before Vanoc's board of directors was to hold a scheduled meeting. Renee Smith-Valade, Vanoc's vice-president of communications, said Poole will not attend the meeting.

“Our board chairman Jack Poole has recently undergone surgery unrelated to his previous medical condition,” said Smith-Valade. “He is at home in recovery and expects be back to work in the next few weeks. He will participate in the board meeting tomorrow by phone.”

She would not indicate the nature of the surgery.

It is the first time since Poole finished cancer treatments in late 2007 that he has missed a board meeting in person.

In June of that year Poole was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent a radical protocol at the Virginia Mason hospital in Seattle. He had previously survived prostate cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers, with a mortality rate of 96 per cent within five years of diagnosis.

Poole, who is legendarily private, declined a request for an interview Tuesday.

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You gotta hand it to them: both Poole and Furlong work something like 80-hour weeks so that the 2010 Games will be a success. It's something they believe in, and something they're both willing to put their health at risk. I'm amazed how some people can simply leap to the conclusion that they're doing it for the money.

[Spork]

More cost overruns. When will the capitalist dogs understand that overworking your employees causes health problems, which results in increased health care costs for the government - ultimately attributed to the olympics!

*ahem* :o

Excited for this spectacle of ours, and am truly grateful for all of the hard work that has gone into it!

[mr.x]

It has been confirmed that VANOC chariman Jack Poole is fighting cancer again. 20 years ago, it first appeared in his prostate. Then a few years ago, it was in his pancreas. Now, it's his intestines.

Hopefully, he recovers from this.