Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson will be stepping away from city events for a while as he undergoes several weeks of cancer treatment, but he says that won’t stop him from being involved.

Johnson announced Tuesday that he will be headed to the University of Washington Medical Center saturday for a round of chemotherapy followed by a hematopoietic stem cell transplant to help him battle the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia with which he was diagnosed earlier this year.

Johnson said though he expects to be out of work from his “real job” for approximately four months he will continue to be involved in city business through phone calls with department heads, the city council and City Administrator Don Morrison, though he does not expect to chair any council meetings again until at least the end of September.

He also said that despite missing Bonney Lake Days on Aug. 20, Events Coordinator David Wells has agreed to send him photos of the classic cars so he can still be a judge in the day’s contest.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is the most common of the four main types of leukemia and is highly treatable with survival rates of the disease are around 90 percent.

Johnson will undergo what is known as an allogeneic transplant of stem cells into his bone marrow. He said his donor is a 32-year-old female who matched his type, but that is all he knows.

Johnson expects to be in the hospital for up to three weeks and then will be home recovering. Because the treatment will lower his immune system, he is to keep out of the public as much as possible, though he said he hopes to be healthy enough to make an appearance at the annual Beautify Bonney Lake event Sept. 17.

To follow Johnson’s treatment, visit www.teambonneylake.org and click the link for labeled “Neil’s Care page.”