The mayor of Lancaster has announced she will reduce her public schedule after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Councillor Abi Mills said she was "doing well, keeping positive and looking forward to getting back to normal on the other side of this".
Councillor Mills, who became the mayor in May, still plans to fulfil as many mayoral engagements as possible, but said that treatment for the disease will inevitably mean a reduction in those she is able to attend.
The deputy mayor, Abi's son Councillor Hamish Mills, will attend events and chair council meetings when she is unavailable.
Councillor Mills, a Green Party councillor for Scotforth West in Lancaster, will also continue doing case work for its residents, with the support from her fellow ward councillor, Councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox.
“I am doing well, keeping positive and looking forward to getting back to normal on the other side of this, but thought it was only fair to explain why I may not be able to attend some events or have to miss meetings,” she said.
When she became mayor, Councillor Mills (pictured below with Councillor Hamish Mills) announced a 'Music for the Mayor' campaign to spotlight Lancaster and Morecambe's music scene while supporting the work of Citizens Advice North Lancashire.
She said: “We are still planning lots of Music with the Mayor events and other charity events – so watch out for these!”
Messages of support and well-wishes came in for Councillor Mills, after Lancaster City Council made the announcement on Wednesday.
Posting on the council's Facebook page, one message said she is "a fantastic councillor, committed mayor and all round lovely human".
Another said it was "very brave to share your diagnosis and wishing you a speedy recovery".
Councillor Mills, who was born in Stoke and grew up near Bristol, came to Lancaster to do a PGCE at St Martin’s College (now University of Cumbria) in the early 1990s. She moved permanently to Lancaster in 1996, with her husband Jon and has lived in the Greaves area of the city ever since. The couple have three adult children, Rosie, Nancy and Hamish.
The mayor also works as a childminder, a mentor for other childminders, and has been a ward councillor for Scotforth West since 2014.
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