Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed that her oncologist has told her she’ll die “sometime in the next 10 years”. The 83-year-old journalist and Childline founder announced that she’d been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in May.
Chatting to Alex Jones on BBC’s The One Show, Esther updated viewers on her condition. When Alex asked where she was currently at, Esther said: “I did say to my oncologist, when am I going to die, and he said: ‘Sometime in the next 10 years.’ But how soon, how late, I do not know.”
She added: “It does concentrate on your mind to be told that you have stage four lung cancer. You do think, wait a minute, I’ve got less time than maybe I had assumed so you prioritise. As much as I love it and as much as I respect people who wanted to die working, for me I didn’t want to die working.”
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Esther was chatting ahead of the release of her new book Older and Bolder, which is her ‘A-Z of surviving anything’. Are you planning to purchase the book? Let us know in the comments.
As mentioned Esther announced she had been diagnosed with lung cancer in May. At the time she said in a statement: “My diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer made me realise how very lucky I’ve been in my life, working with Childline and the Silver Line, and meeting so many fascinating and inspiring people, and especially lucky to have spent 21 years working as producer/presenter of That’s Life!
“I’m not good at regrets. What I treasure most are the fantastic friendships I have made thanks to That’s Life! during the last 50 years, the people I met, and the team who worked so hard, and laughed so hard, together for so long.”
The One Show airs on BBC One on weekdays at 7pm. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
