Michael D Higgins addresses hospital stay with mystery illness
President Michael D Higgins has addressed his health for the first time since experiencing a recent hospital stay.
Back in February, the 83-year-old was admitted to hospital for a week, due to having a "mild transient weakness".
Now, in his first interview since his hospital stay, President Higgins has chosen to clarify his recent health concerns.
In a conversation with The Irish Times, President Higgins described his health scare as “my little episode”.
“I’m fine now. What I had was a form of mild stroke. It didn’t affect my cognitive abilities. It affected simply my motor side, which was on the left-hand side,” he explained.
“My left hand is fully back. But [the stroke] somehow exacerbated stuff that I had in my lower back. I’m getting that fixed in the next week,” he went on to add.
In the interview, President Higgins also detailed that, during his stay in hospital, he received a call from King Charles III.
He noted that the pair discussed their separate health issues, including King Charles’ recent cancer diagnosis.
On February 5, Buckingham Palace announced that the King had been diagnosed with “a form of cancer”, after the 75-year-old underwent a procedure for “benign prostate enlargement”.
Regarding his phone call with King Charles, President Higgins noted candidly: “I’ve had prostate operations and I told him that people will speak to you about ‘mild discomfort’ – I said that is one of the greatest abuses there is of the English language. We had a laugh about that.”
On February 29, President Higgins was admitted to St. James’ Hospital, following “precautionary tests”. At the time, it was noted that he was in “excellent spirits.”
On March 7, the President’s team confirmed that he had returned home to Áras an Uachtaráin, and thanked the hospital for its “wonderful, dedicated and caring medical staff.”
