Australian TV host Fiona MacDonald has announced her own death via a social media post, three years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The Queensland-born presenter, who hosted It’s A Knockout and kid’s show Wombat in the 1980s, had refused further treatment due to the torment of the unrelenting symptoms.
‘Farewell my friends. My sister Kylie is posting this because I have left the building – Hopefully I’m looking down from a cloud,’ her statement said.
‘Last night brought an end to a very tough few months. Was very peaceful, the boys and Kylie stayed with me to say goodbye.’
She described the unbearable pain she had been in during her last few years, and wanted to end the suffering.
‘While I’ve never wanted to die, the thought of leaving my tortured body was a relief. The last few months have been tough.’
She added that her death was on her own terms, after she told the doctors to not continue to treat her condition.
‘I made the decision after much soul searching to cease all medical supports and finally go into hospital for end of life palliative care.
‘When you love life as much as I do, it takes a great deal of courage to make choices that lead to farewell. So let’s not call it goodbye as I hope to see you again on the other side. Until then.’
Beloved Australian children’s TV host Fiona MacDonald (pictured) died earlier this week aged 67, almost three years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease
Many of her celebrity friends quickly took to the comment section to express their sadness at her passing.
‘Rest easy lovely Fi. You are missed already,’ Shelley Horton wrote and
Fiona rose to fame by appearing on shows such as Wombat, the puppetry successor Agro’s Cartoon Connection.
She appeared on many popular variety and lifestyle shows throughout her career, including Look Who’s Talking and In Brisbane Tonight.
The showbusiness star, who is the sister of long-time Hey Hey it’s Saturday star Jacki MacDonald, retired from the industry in the early 2000s to run her own wine consulting business.
The Queensland-born presenter, who was one of the most popular faces on Australian children’s TV in the 1980s, announced her own death on her Instagram page on Thursday, in a heartbreaking statement
Fiona’s sister Kylie posted a posthumous statement by her to Instagram, shortly after her passing, in which Fiona revealed she had chosen to stop getting treatment for her illness
She worked as both a business development manager and PR and communication manager for wine marketers Fine Wine Partners.
Leaving the organisation in 2015, Fiona set up her own PR consultancy firm Wine Chronicles that same year.
Fiona previously revealed she first noticed her Motor Neurone Disease symptoms prior to 2021 when she was diagnosed.
MND causes nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to progressively fail.
As the nerves in the brain and spinal cord are impacted, it leaves the sufferer unable to walk, speak and even to breathe independently in the latter stages.
Fiona appeared on many popular Australian variety and lifestyle shows throughout her celebrated career, including Look Who’s Talking and In Brisbane Tonight
As the condition progresses, sufferers find that all of these actions become more difficult or impossible.
‘I noticed in July that I was having trouble speaking clearly, particularly if I was tired,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
AFL great Neale Daniher is a high-profile sufferer of MND and has done much in Australia to raise research funds and public awareness of the condition.
Fiona is survived by her two sons Harry and Rafe.
The showbusiness legend, who is the sister of long-time Hey Hey it’s Saturday star Jacki MacDonald, retired from the industry in the early 2000s to run her own wine consulting business