ALEXANDRIA — For the next few weeks, Police Chief Donald Sullivan is deskbound, unable to drive a cruiser or any other car by doctor’s orders, and it’s hard to be a good cop if you can’t leave the station, he says.

But he’s not complaining. About two months ago, he was told by a doctor that he had a deadly cancerous brain tumor and needed immediate brain surgery.

“One day I woke up and I couldn’t do certain things, and it turned out to be a tumor,” Sullivan, 37, said. “It came out of the blue, I had no signs of any problems before. It was extremely scary.”

At first doctors weren’t sure it was cancer, but an MRI exam at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston found a “significant-sized tumor,” he was told by his doctor. When it was found to be cancerous, doctors decided to operate, telling Sullivan his future depended on it.

“On April 9, they removed most of it, and then they went in again on April 13 and they got everything left that was visible on the MRI,” he said.

Doctors had more good news: The cancer is nonmetastatic, which means it is not likely to spread to other parts of his body. They said there are likely still cells in his brain that could become cancerous again, so he needs to have an MRI every four months for the next 1-2 years — and probably every six months for the rest of his life, he said — to check for a reoccurrence of the cancer.

But his prognosis for a full recover is good. “The doctor said something will eventually kill me, but it probably won’t be this,” he said.

His only treatment recommendation was to stay as healthy as possible, he said, so he’s begun running daily, and is participating in local marathons. He won’t be allowed to drive for a few more weeks because of the risk of seizure following the surgeries.

He lives in Hill, so depending on people for rides to work is bothersome.

“I’m going absolutely nuts stuck in this office,” he said.

But he is thankful to be alive with a positive prognosis. And he’s learned that he has a lot of good friends, both from his work in the past two years as Alexandria’s chief and from his eight years before that as a Northfield police officer.

Benefit events were held to raise money to help pay some of his medical bills while he was recovering. On May 5, the Northfield Police Relief Association held a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s in Tilton, and the Newfound Area Chiefs Association held a spaghetti supper on May 30.

“I’m okay financially with the bills now, thanks to all the support,” he said. “The support has been absolutely incredible. I’m very thankful to everyone.”

dseufert@newstote.com