TV legend Dame Esther Rantzen has given a deeply emotional update about her ongoing battle with stage four lung cancer, revealing that she is “between scans” and living with what she calls “scanxiety” — the anxiety of waiting to learn whether her treatment is working.
The beloved That’s Life! presenter, 85, spoke candidly on BBC Radio 4, saying she never quite knows how she feels anymore. “I’m between scans, and there’s a condition we, all of us, who know too much about cancer, call scanxiety,” she said. “So as you catch me now, that’s what I’ve got — I’m waiting.”
Dame Esther, diagnosed in January 2023, has been undergoing experimental treatment after signing up with the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas later that same year. She previously said she joined Dignitas so she could “choose an assisted death if things got really rough.”
While she initially responded well to new targeted drugs, she heartbreakingly revealed that “it’s not working now, but it did for a while,” adding, “I’ve had this additional couple of years, which I certainly didn’t expect. Who knew I’d be 85, heavens.”
The veteran broadcaster has also questioned whether her illness was linked to asbestos exposure at the BBC’s Lime Grove Studios, where she filmed That’s Life! for 21 years. “Workmen in white spacesuits came to remove the asbestos,” she recalled. “We called our route to the canteen ‘asbestos alley.’”
Her daughter, journalist Rebecca Wilcox, has voiced fears of being prosecuted if she supports her mother’s assisted dying choice. Appearing on TalkTV, she pleaded: “Please, please don’t make it worse for me by accusing me of murdering her. I will have to live without her — don’t make me go through a terrifying legal process.”
Founded in 1998, Dignitas has helped over 2,100 people end their lives with dignity, assisting those with severe or terminal conditions. For Esther, who spent decades helping others through consumer rights campaigns and heartfelt television stories, her wish now is for a peaceful and dignified farewell on her own terms.
