Fayetteville councilman says he has lung cancer

Fayetteville City Councilman Bill Crisp, who has lung cancer, says he is upbeat about his prognosis.

The 68-year-old said Wednesday he intends to do as much work as he can while on the council, even though his health has prevented him from going to as many neighborhood watch and homeowner association meetings as in the past.

He said he has caught the disease early, but he isn’t sure yet if his health will permit him to run for re-election in the fall.

In mid-November, doctors at Durham Regional Hospital found a dime-sized tumor on his right lung and a half dollar-sized tumor on his left lung during a CAT scan.

On Jan. 12, Crisp went to Duke University Medical Center to see if the cancer had spread. Good news, he said. It had not metastized.

Doctors removed the smaller tumor in the right lung Jan 13.

Crisp plans to go back to Duke on Feb. 10 to go tackle the other tumor. Options include surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.

Crisp, a freshman councilman who was elected in 2007, said he began experiencing frequent and painful coughs last year. Doctors took several X-rays, but no tumors were found in the lungs. Yet the coughs persisted. Apparently, he said, the heart and other tissue were concealing the tumors in X-rays.