The journalist and TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen had a preconceived notion that she would “fall off [her] perch in weeks” when she was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer in January 2023.
Dame Esther Rantzen is celebrating Christmas early with family this year — in case she “doesn’t make” the real day.
The journalist and campaigner says she continues to astound herself at making milestones following her incurable lung cancer diagnosis nearly three years ago. The grandmother of five has been battling to legalise assisted dying since her bombshell news but there have been delays on the Assisted Dying Bill and, earlier this year, Dame Esther, 85, said she believes she won’t see it passed in her lifetime.
And now the veteran TV presenter, who founded the charity Childline in 1986, has arranged to have her Christmas early in the fear she might not be alive on December 25. She said: “This year I am planning an “official” Christmas with my children and five grandchildren, slightly ahead of the real Christmas so that there will be more chance that I am actually alive to enjoy it with them. Although I live alone, Rebecca (Dame Esther’s daughter) will come and decorate the house beautifully, as she has done every year with all my old baubles and bits of tinsel.”
Dame Esther said she didn’t expect to live for any more Christmases following her cancer diagnosis in January 2023. It quickly became Stage 4, and then her family told the press medication was no longer working as the mum of threewasn’t responding to it.
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But, even though the TV legend has celebrated two further Christmases, she is now fearful this will be her last — if she makes the next four weeks that is. In a candid interview with The Times, Dame Esther said: “When I was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2023, I did not expect to last until the next Christmas, so the fact that I am still here and looking forward to this one is a wonderful surprise.
I’m not currently receiving any treatment, which was my doctor’s choice because the negative effects outweigh the advantages. So, the cancers are progressing slowly, but slowly, as my most recent scan suggested. Scanxiety, an additional mental health issue that I never anticipated, is also a coincidence.
As the date draws near, my anxiety levels rise, and we cancer patients have referred to it as scanxiety because I have no idea what is actually happening inside my own body, but every scan, every three or four months, carries with it the possibility of bad news. “
The journalist, who in addition to Childline, founded The Silver Line to support older people, continues to campaign to legalise assisted dying. The Assisted Dying Bill was, in June, approved by MPs and is now with the House of Lords.
Dame Esther claimed that her battle gave her and thousands of other terminally ill people new hope. The grandmother, who is from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, continued, “When I started this journey, as they say on Strictly, I assumed that I would fall off my perch in weeks, not months, let alone years. I avoided anticipating any treats in the past, as I always have.
Source: Mirror
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