Cowdenbeath MSP Helen Eadie is being treated for cancer at Dunfermline’s Queen Margaret Hospital, it has been announced.
The 66-year-old Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party politician was given a CT scan on October 24, the day of the Dunfermline by-election.
Tests confirmed Mrs Eadie was suffering from cancer and she has since been moved to a hospice at Queen Margaret Hospital, The Courier understands.
The MSP was first elected to serve Fife at the Scottish Parliament’s inception in 1999. She had been campaigning for newly-elected colleague Cara Hilton days before the initial diagnosis.
On behalf of the family, Mrs Eadie’s son-in-law Gavin Yates said: “Helen is receiving treatment in hospital for cancer.
“The family would ask that their privacy is respected at this time.”
Mr Yates, a Fife councillor, also thanked family and friends for their support.
It is understood the MSP is conducting parliamentary business from her hospital bed and has instructed her staff to keep her office running while she receives treatment.
Mrs Eadie and husband Bob, a former Fife councillor, are firmly rooted in local politics. Prior to her election to Holyrood the MSP was a full-time trade union official for the GMB and a councillor.
She worked for two MPs, including her father-in-law, former MP for Midlothian Alex Eadie, and was on James Callaghan’s general election campaign team.
Mrs Eadie represents the Cowdenbeath constituency of 71,000 people which includes Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and Rosyth to the south and Lochgelly, Cardenden and Kelty to the north. The seat replaced Dunfermline East prior to the last election, following recommendations by the Scottish Boundary Commission.
Mrs Eadie won Cowdenbeath with a slim majority of 1,247 votes over the SNP in 2011. She announced recently that she would not seek re-election.