Esther Rantzen’s Heartbreaking Cancer Update: Celebrating Christmas Early for a Better Chance at Life

Dame Esther Rantzen has issued a heartbreaking update on her cancer battle as she admitted she is celebrating Christmas early so there’s ‘more chance I’ll be alive’. 

The journalist, 85, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2023, and at one point was told she had just weeks to live. 

Last year the star raved about an ‘amazing’ new drug which had delayed the spread of her cancer, saying that it had allowed her to plan ahead.

However in an update on Friday, Dame Esther told The Times that she was diagnosed with a second form of cancer – for which she received chemotherapy and radiotherapy this year. 

Dame Esther also revealed that she is now not receiving any treatment at all after her doctor said the side-effects were outweighing any benefits. 

‘A further diagnosis, comparatively recently, has revealed that I am also being attacked by a completely different kind of cancer, which needed treatment with chemotherapy and being zapped with radiotherapy,’ she said.

‘Right now I am not receiving any treatment at all, which was my doctor’s decision, as the side-effects outweigh the benefits – so the cancers are progressing but, according to my most recent scan, very slowly.’

Dame Esther went on to share that she has been planning to have Christmas celebrations with her children and grandchildren sooner rather than later. 

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!’

Dame Esther added that back in 2023 she didn’t expect to survive another Christmas so it was a ‘wonderful’ surprise that she has yet another to celebrate.  

It comes after Kate Garraway was left fighting back tears as she was joined by Dame Esther for a segment on the assisted dying bill. 

Kate, 58, became visibly upset as terminally ill Dame Esther revealed her end of life plans in an emotional interview on Friday’s show via phone call.  

The That’s Life! presenter was seen appealing to the House of Lords, who are currently debating the legislation for the bill, to not block it from moving forward. 

Dame Esther revealed she wanted to represent terminally ill people across England and Wales as she admitted she had plans to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland, a non-profit organisation that provides physician-assisted death. 

She said: ‘I’m not afraid of death, but I am, as someone once said, afraid of dying, I’m afraid of dying badly. 

‘I’m making arrangements because it’s the only way I can have an assisted death, to go by myself to Zurich, to Dignitas.’ 

‘I just wish that I was allowed to say goodbye to my family and for them to see that I have a good death.’ 

Dame Esther continued: ‘Please, House of Lords, give us terminally ill patients the hope, the confidence, the choice that if life gets unbearable, they can ask for help.’

Going on to address how the bill will affect disabled people due to the question it could be used against them if they become a burden to family, Dame Esther added: ‘Some disabled people think that it will apply to them, well, it won’t. It can’t, unless they are terminally ill with six months or less to live’. 

Earlier this year Dame Esther opened up about her heartbreaking final wish, revealing the ‘extremely limited’ time she has left.

The Childline founder expressed her deep desire to be reunited with her late husband, Desmond Wilcox, whom she lost to a heart attack in 2000 at the age of 69.

In an interview, she spoke deeply about her lasting bond with Desmond, musing on the possibility of an afterlife where they could once again be together.

She told The Times: ‘If there is a heaven, it would be a very happy place. It’s a lovely idea to meet Desmond again and all those I have loved and lost — my parents and grandparents, my close friends and family.’ 

Esther’s relationship with Desmond began as an affair in 1968, when he was her head of department at the BBC. 

They married in 1977 and spent 30 years together until his death, and had three children together.

Back in 2013, the presenter spoke of her own sadness at being a widow, saying she would give up a decade of her life to spend just ten more minutes by her late husband’s side.

She said: ‘Desmond’s last words to me were, “I adore you”. I was sitting on his deathbed.

‘I will take those words with me to the grave. I said to my son last night, “If God gave me the choice between ten more years of life and ten more minutes with Desi, I would pick those ten minutes”.’