DAME Esther Rantzen has shared a heartbreaking health update after stopping treatment for lung cancer.
The veteran TV star, 85, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in January 2023 and had been undergoing experimental medication, though is no longer receiving any treatment.
She had previously joined a Swiss assisted dying clinic, Dignitas, in late 2023, stating her desire for a peaceful death if her treatment failed.
She has now revealed in a heartbreaking health update that she is celebrating Christmas early this year in case she doesn’t make the actual day.
Speaking to The Times, 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.
“Although I live alone, Rebecca (her daughter) will come and decorate the house beautifully, as she has done every year with all my old baubles and bits of tinsel.”
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In the candid interview, Dame Esther said: “When I was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2023, I did not expect to last until the next Christmas, so the fact that I am still here and looking forward to this one is a wonderful surprise.”
She then revealed how she is no longer receiving treatment, and her cancers are progressing.
“Right now I am not receiving any treatment, which was my doctor’s decision, as the side-effects outweigh the benefits,” she explained.
“So the cancers are progressing but, according to my most recent scan, very slowly.
“Incidentally, I have also discovered a mental health issue I never expected, scanxiety,” she added.
Dame Esther went on to explain: “Since I have no idea what is actually happening inside my own body, but every scan, every three or four months, carries with it the possibility of bad news, as the date approaches my anxiety levels rise — and we cancer patients have christened it scanxiety.”
She also revealed her “great hope” for the coming year, and what she would really want to happen.
“My great hope for 2026, which I do not expect to survive long enough to witness, is the final passing of the Assisted Dying Bill through all its stages in parliament,” she said.
Dame Esther is a big supporter of the Assisted Dying Bill, which narrowly passed through Parliament back in June.
At the time of the Bill passing through the House of Commons in June 2025, Dame Esther said the terminally ill are “truly voiceless” and face an “agonising death” – adding: “This is a crucial debate for the truly voiceless.”
She went on to say: “They are the terminally ill adults for whom life has become unbearable and who need assistance, not to shorten their lives but to shorten an agonising death – and their loved ones who under the current law will be accused of committing a crime if they try to assist or even stay alongside to say goodbye.”
Dame Esther also spoke about how she is in the midst of planning her memorial service, in her most recent interview this weekend.
She said how it is “quite fun to put together” as she is ruthless about asking favours from friends.
“Fortunately I have friends who are wonderful readers, Tom Conti, for instance, and Imelda Staunton and Judi Dench.
“It’s going to be quite an event!
“Pity I can’t be there myself,” she added.
Dame Esther previously questioned whether her stage four lung cancer might have been caused by exposure to asbestos at the BBC’s Lime Grove Studios in West London, where she filmed That’s Life! for 21 years.
Speaking to The Times in 2023, Dame Esther said: “Some time in the late-Eighties or early-Nineties, workmen wearing white spacesuits arrived to take down walls and ceilings along the corridors where I wrote our scripts to remove the asbestos.
“This did not surprise any of us since my team had called our route to the canteen ‘asbestos alley’.”