Australian TV host Fiona MacDonald announced her own death on Instagram after battling a neurological disorder for the past three years.
“Farewell my friends,” the 67-year-old broadcaster posthumously posted late Wednesday night. “My sister Kylie is posting this because I have left the building — Hopefully I’m looking down from a cloud.”
MacDonald — known for starring on the Australian kids’ show “Wombat” in the 1980s, as well as hosting the game show “It’s a Knockout” — told her supporters that her death brought a very tough few months to a peaceful close, witnessed by her two sons and her sister.
“While I’ve never wanted to die, the thought of leaving my tortured body was a relief,” she confessed.
MacDonald was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in November 2021, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The National Institutes of Health describe MND as “a group of progressive neurological disorders that destroy motor neurons, the cells that control skeletal muscle activity such as walking, breathing, speaking, and swallowing.”
According to MacDonald, she was unable to swallow food or process protein drinks in recent months. She’d been “slowly starving,” losing strength and dealing with back pain.
“The black humour that served me well through the first years of this journey turned to despair,” she lamented. “I made the decision after much soul searching to cease all medical supports and finally go into hospital for end of life palliative care.”
MacDonald said her love for living made letting go especially difficult, but hoped those she left behind remembered her laughter.
“Let’s not call it goodbye as I hope to see you again on the other side,” she wrote.