In an emotional tribute to Cancer Awareness Month, former NDP leader Todd Hardy has informed his legislative colleagues that he has taken himself off conventional treatments for his leukemia.

"Very recently, all the treatments have failed with me, and I have withdrawn from cancer treatment,” Hardy told the legislative assembly last Thursday.

"So basically, I shouldn't be here today, because I should've been dead a couple months ago.”

In February 2009, Hardy announced he was stepping aside as the NDP's leader, citing deteriorating health as a factor.

Diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 2006, Hardy said then that the cancer had returned and doctors had placed him on a drug they believed would keep the cancer at bay for two years.

"Interestingly enough, in taking myself off the conventional treatments, it has given me a reprieve,” Hardy told the legislature.

"And I have been in some form of remission or some form of recovery, though the cancer still continues to rage through my body and probably it is growing.

"But I am not going over to the hospital to find out what is actually happening anymore because there is no treatment left for me.

"So for people who were surprised when I walked into the legislative assembly when it opened (Mar. 25), that is really what has happened.”

Hardy later told the Star he will be present during the spring sitting, which runs until May 20, when his health and energy level permit.

First elected in October 1996, Hardy, who is in his early fifties, rose to the party's helm in September 2002.

Liz Hanson, formerly the Yukon's top bureaucrat with the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, was acclaimed to the NDP's leadership role in September 2009, but remains without a seat in the assembly.

In light of these circumstances, during legislative proceedings in the house, Hardy is recognized by his party as the NDP's leader.