Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter has given a heart-breaking insight into what could be her last Christmas with her mother.
The Childline founder, 83, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer earlier this year, revealed she has joined the assisted-dying clinic in Switzerland and will consider going there to end her life should her next scan show she is getting worse.
Her daughter Rebecca Wilcox told of how she ‘held on to each moment so tightly’ as they filled their Christmas Day with ‘happy memories.’
Writing in her column for The Mirror, the television presenter, 43, she explained: ‘It’s not often that you know beforehand it will be the last time you will dish out turkey and pull crackers at the table with your mother, but that’s what this year has been for us.
‘She thought she would be dead in spring, but a miraculous drug has meant that we have another Christmas with her, a wonder we couldn’t have imagined possible when she was diagnosed in January. I was determined to make the most of it.’
Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter has given a heart-breaking insight into what could be her last Christmas with her mother (Dame Esther Rantzen’ pictured in 2022)
The Childline founder, 83, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer earlier this year, revealed she has joined the assisted-dying clinic in Switzerland and will consider going there
Rebecca continued: ‘I couldn’t relax. I was too aware every moment was a precious treasure. I felt I needed to hold on to each minute so tightly I was probably exhausting to be around.’
She explained how despite initially stressing about the ‘trickling away time’ she managed to finally ‘relax’ and find contentment in making memories.
Rebecca previously said she fears she could be accused of murder if she helps her seriously ill mother travel to Dignitas.
However, Dame Esther admitted such a decision would put her family and friends in a difficult position as they could be prosecuted should they decide to join her.
Her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, told TalkTV: ‘It’s impossible, isn’t it, because I can’t even say to you, I would support my mum on her journey to Dignitas because if I said that, that’s legally murky.
‘Obviously, in my head, I would have thought that I would never let her go alone to somewhere like that, but I’m a busy working mum. I can’t leave my children to pop off to jail while she’s buzzing off to Switzerland.
‘The fact is only three people a year get prosecuted. But the actual process of going through a court case at what is the worst time of my life so far.
‘You know, mum is my person. I do not want to live without her. I will have to live without her and please, please don’t make it worse for me by accusing me of murdering her and making me go through what would be a terrifying legal process.’
Her daughter Rebecca Wilcox told of how she ‘held on to each moment so tightly’ as they filled their Christmas Day with ‘happy memories’
Dame Esther has called for a free vote on assisted dying as it’s ‘important that the law catches up with what the country wants’.
She said she will find out in a few weeks if a new medication she has been taking is ‘performing its miracle’ or if it has ‘given up’.
Asked about the current rules on assisted dying, Ms Wilcox said: ‘Why would it be a problem to set up regulation around this?
We have regulation around everything. I’ve been trying to adopt a dog and the forms and licences and things that go through that is ridiculous.
‘So death and birth are possibly the most important moments in your life.
‘My death, I want it to be exactly how I want it to be and I think coming together, making a law, making structures, making regulation that respects my opinion on my body and my death for everybody is the only sane way.
‘It would stop the money-makers who want to make money from people’s death and frankly if you’re going to give someone a good death, make some money out of it as long as you’re helping them.
‘I have to say, Dignitas does not look like a very lovely place. I would much rather have diamonds and champagnes and a hot bathtub, and it doesn’t look like they supply that, and I think mum would too. We both model ourselves on Dame Joan Collins who is fabulous.’
Ms Wilcox had earlier told ITV’s Good Morning Britain how her mother, who has also worked as a broadcaster for several years, ‘doesn’t care what anyone else says’ as she prepares to join her family for what tragically could be her last Christmas.
Rebecca previously said she fears she could be accused of murder if she helps her seriously ill mother travel to Dignitas
‘It’s horrific and she always promised us she would live forever. She’s not usually one to break her promises so we’re a little upset about that.
‘I would personally want to ground her plane if she was going to fly to Zurich but I know it’s her decision. I just don’t ever want her to go.’
Ms Wilcox also spoke of the heartbreak of watching her father, Desmond, endure a slow and painful death as he battled heart disease, adding: ‘That’s what mum wants to avoid.’
Dame Esther said that if ‘nothing’s working’ she might ‘buzz off to Zurich’ in Switzerland but realises this would put her family and friends in a difficult position as they could be prosecuted should they decide to join her.
