VERO BEACH — Warren Winchester, a former Vero Beach mayor who has remained an active participant on the public stage even as he has approached 80, has sent an email to friends telling them his activities have been curtailed by multiple myeloma cancer and kidney failure.
“I have now graduated to direct insertion of size 15 needles into my left arm every other day for dialysis,” Winchester wrote. “This will be my lot for the rest of my life. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are not much fun, generally about 4.5 hours for this process but it keeps me alive.
“The bones are a more troubling issue because they hurt more. Most of my thoracic skeleton has cancer somewhere, and we have used radiation to slow the process and to fix painful areas. That, with oxycodone keeps the pain under control, but it does not slow or stop the decay process.
“All said and done, even without kidneys and with a cancer bomb ticking away, my heart is left strong and I hope, up to the task of pushing this body a few more years,” he concluded.
Winchester, who has opposed the sale of the Vero electric utility, has written several op-ed articles for sister publication Vero Beach 32963.
