Prime Minister Erna Solberg and her husband, Sindre Finnes, were on Norway's national newscasts Tuesday night, urging everyone watching to check any changes in their skin. He and Solberg revealed this week how he received a cancer diagnosis just before the Christmas holidays.
"The word kreft (cancer, in Norwegian) is always so frightening," Solberg told magazine Se og Hør. She admitted she's been worried about her husband, who needed to have surgery on several malignant patches of skin. He underwent several operations, mostly on his face.
Finnes, age 54, went to the doctor after a spot on his forehead began to bleed. He's been diagnosed with a mild form of skin cancer and his prospects reportedly are good.
Solberg and Finnes, an economist who works for Norway's national employers' organization NHO, married in Paris in 1996. He's been widely hailed for being a highly supportive husband and taking the most responsibility on the homefront since Solberg's political career took off. The couple have two children, a 22-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son.
The family has mostly lived in Oslo since Solberg was first elected as a Member of Parliament representing Hordaland in 1989, but also maintains a home in their native Bergen. Solberg became a government minister for the first time in 2001, was elected as leader of the Conservative Party in 2004 and won the 2013 national election when she became prime minister. She's been the Conservatives' longest-serving prime minister and her government now holds a majority in Parliament.