Horin, a former Sydney Morning Herald writer who wrote a popular weekly social affairs column and later a popular blog, told readers: "I hope for miracles and I look at Clive James [the ailing Australian author] with hope. "But right now dear readers, I'm too sick to continue to write the blog. Maybe I will be able to re-start it again. But if not, I want you to know what a privilege it has been to be part of such a thoughtful community." Horin won a Walkley Award in 1981 for Best Feature in a Newspaper or Magazine, at The National Times, for a series of articles about sex in Australia. In 2011 she received an Australian Human Rights Commission media award for a series of stories on abuse and neglect of people with disability living in licensed boarding houses. In her post, she wrote of how she felt luck had been with her all her life. "Whatever happens, I've been so lucky. I was lucky to be a baby boomer born in Australia. Modest talent took us a long way as we rode post-war prosperity.

"I was lucky to have excellent public schools. "I was lucky in my parents. Typical of their generation they were early school leavers – but they were bright and valued education. My mother was an early escapee to the workforce and I was always so proud of the interesting job she held at Parliament House in Western Australia. She was always my role model and at 87 still is." Writing about her upbringing in Western Australia, she reflected on her early career and some of her early scoops. "I was lucky being one of the 10 per cent so in the 60's who went to university. But more than that, I also was accepted as a cadet journalist on The West Australian newspaper. "I believe what impressed them was I'd been editor of the school newspaper and my incredible coup in nabbing JT and the Jazzmen, the hottest group in Perth at the time, to play at the school ball.

"I've been so lucky in my love life – remaining friends with my first partner, while deeply loving my current partner of 30 years, the father of our two sons who I could not be more proud of. How did we raise such decent and interesting young men? "I've been lucky in having a fulfilling career in journalism and when that finished to have started a blog which has brought me so close to many readers in a way I've not experienced before. I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of ageing with me." Horin acknowledged however luck had deserted her. "I want to say it's unfair. I never smoked; I've been too much the 'good girl' all my life. "Growing older is a mixture of good and bad. May you have the good luck to enjoy a vibrant and engaged long life."

After posting the piece on her website, Adele Horin was trending on Twitter in Sydney.