The Sinn Féin leader has had what she described as an "eventful" year, with her burying her father just over a month ago, her undergoing a hysterectomy last September, and her husband Martin Lanigan falling extremely ill when they were set to head home from holiday in Biarritz.
Revealing her husband’s diagnosis on Thursday, Ms McDonald said that she and her family went for a small holiday in the south of France while she was recovering — with Martin falling ill while they were heading to the airport.
"Literally between packing the case to come home and arriving at the airport, Martin got really really sick," Ms McDonald said on Ireland AM.
"I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was serious because he is the type of Irish man who it wouldn’t matter what was wrong. He would say 'sure I’m grand, everything’s grand.' But he wasn’t okay."
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Thankfully for Ms McDonald and Martin, an Irish nurse who was heading to London aided him and suggested he go to hospital, where they learned that his bowel had burst.
"They saved his life," she said. "His bowels had burst."
After undergoing surgery for his burst bowel, he learned that there was a tumor — which led to him being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with Ms McDonald and Martin staying in the Basque region.
"So I ended up spending several weeks in the Basque country in France, with him in intensive care and hospital, and all of the thing of him getting home and the worry of would I get him home?" she explained.
"It was one of those moments in life where literally everything got turned upside down."
Despite going through her own hysterectomy recovery, Ms McDonald said that her main priority became her husband’s recovery from cancer — with her admitting that she didn’t go public as she was still processing the diagnosis.
"I hadn’t spoken about it. I haven’t spoken about it really publicly at all because I was still trying to process it," she said. "[I was thinking] 'what does this mean? How serious is this? Will he recover?'
"Anybody that knows it, knows a cancer diagnosis is a game changer for the individual but also for the family. And that was the case for our family. I’m talking about it now because he is one of the lucky ones, and his prognosis is good and for that, I am eternally, eternally grateful."
Ms McDonald also spoke about the recent passing of her father, admitting that while she had a complicated relationship with her father, she still loved him.
"We buried our father five weeks ago. So anybody who has lost their Da knows that’s a very hard thing," Ms McDonald said.
"I loved my Da, but we had a complicated relationship.
"He was a complicated person. My parents have been separated for most of my life. So it’s kind of a strange thing.
"You lose your father, so you have the grief of that… it is not a straightforward grief, if that makes sense."
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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