That's Glenn Taylor's warning now the initial heart-break and shock of having to withdraw from the local government election this weekend has passed and been replaced with a positive outlook for his battle against an aggressive cancer.

Cr Taylor, 60, said stepping down from the election after almost 27 years as an Orange City Councillor was one of the toughest decision he's had to make but now, thinking with a clearer head, he said it was only one he could have made.

"I had to weigh up my council roll and my health and my family, my two girls ... in the end I realize, through talking to a lot of people, I've made the right decision.

"I couldn't take on the responsibility of council with the health fight that I've got at the moment. That has to be my number one priority, but yes, very disappointed."

Cr Taylor, who joined the Orange City Council ranks in 1995, said public service was the highlight of his life and he was proud of what councils he had served on had achieved, especially the last two terms.

"We're on track to achieve a hell of lot with things like the sporting precinct, the southern distributor just to name a couple of the big projects. .. we're at the cusp of achieving an enormous amount.

"Comparing what Orange was like in 1995 when I came on as a fresh-faced kid, Orange has changed and it's down to the councils over the years that have given us everything we've got."

A card-carrying member of the Labor Party, Cr Taylor said he had no regrets about running for the seat of Orange three times

"In the last one that's when we secured the northern distributor, plans were laid for the new hospital, a new police station. [Labor Premier] Bob Carr was here every second week," he said. "Russell [Turner] won it but Orange was a glued-on national party stronghold.

"But we gave it a red-hot crack.

"I stood three times and that's why I'd never try and kid the people of Orange that I was anything but a Labor man," he said.

In his 26 years, Cr Taylor served as deputy mayor seven times under four mayors and praised all of them, but described John Davis as a "visionary".

He would be watching the incoming council with interest and would also be following health advice to the letter with a plan to eventually return to public service.

"The diagnoses I have received, the treatment I'm on, if it works, I could have many years of quality life in front of me. If it doesn't work my options are limited. That's the truth of it.

"But that relates to a lot of people. All I can do is what they tell me ... and stay positive.

"In the end I just want to make my daughters know they are loved, every day."

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