Guðmundur Ingi Kristinsson, a member of Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, announced from the parliamentary speaking platform on Wednesday that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. The statement was made during a session dedicated to Pink Day (Bleiki dagurinn), which raises awareness about cancer. The news was first reported by DV.
Guðmundur Ingi explained that a skin lesion had been removed from his foot, leading to the detection of his cancer. The details surrounding the timeline of his diagnosis, however, differ between sources. According to Guðmundur Ingi’s remarks as reported by DV and Mannlíf, he had to wait for more than a year for the examination that ultimately revealed the cancer. In contrast, Vísir reported that the skin lesion was removed just under a month earlier.
During his speech, Guðmundur Ingi said, “I was lucky,” according to DV. The announcement comes as Iceland marks Pink Day, dedicated to cancer awareness.
Background
Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, is the national legislature of Iceland and is one of the oldest parliaments in the world, having been established in 930. The parliament has a single chamber composed of 63 members who are elected every four years by party-list proportional representation. Its present building, Alþingishús, has stood in Reykjavík since 1881.
Sources
- DV (first reported) in Icelandic
- Mannlíf in Icelandic
- Vísir in Icelandic
- Miðjan in Icelandic
Image: Manuelarosi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · licence, original (resized) Illustrative image.
