Dame Esther Rantzen pictured in January 2023
Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed that she will not be around “for much longer” amid her ongoing battle with terminal lung cancer.
The veteran broadcaster, 85, was diagnosed with the condition at the start of 2023 and a despite initial short prognosis, experimental treatment has kept her alive.
Over the last three years Rantzen has campaigned strongly for those with terminal illnesses to be allowed the right to an assisted death – and a bill to that effect is currently working its way slowly through the House of Lords.
Writing in The Observer, she said: “Last week was the third anniversary of my diagnosis with stage four lung cancer – and to my astonishment, thanks to one of the new miracle drugs, I’m still here. Not for much longer.
“The drug has stopped working now and a scan next week will reveal how far my disease has spread. I’m definitely not going to live long enough to see the assisted dying bill become law. So if my life becomes unbearably painful and I long for a quick, pain-free death, I will have to go to Dignitas in Switzerland, alone.”
She added: “No change in the law can come in time for me. I always knew that. But on the third anniversary of my own diagnosis all I ask is that future generations be given the confidence and hope of a fast, pain-free death when they need it most.”
The elected House of Commons has already passed the change in law but the House of Lords is debating over 1,200 amendments and must pass the bill before the current parliamentary session ends in May in order for it to pass.
