Dame Esther Rantzen has shared how long she has left to live after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
The telly legend has been learning to live with her cancer for the past few months, and opened up about her health battle in her first interview since first revealing the diagnosis.
She initially confirmed to PA News: “In the last few weeks I have discovered that I am suffering from lung cancer which has now spread. At the moment I am undergoing various tests, to assess the best treatment.
READ MORE: Alison Hammond begs ‘take the camera off me’ as ITV co-star rushes to support her
“I have decided not to keep this secret any more because I find it difficult to skulk around various hospitals wearing an unconvincing disguise, and because I would rather you heard the facts from me.”
(Image: BBC)
Dame Esther added: “At the age of 82, this diagnosis has prompted me to look back over the years, and I want to express my profound thanks to everyone who has made my life so joyful, filled with fun, and with inspiration.”
The Childline founder has started on various medications, but “nobody knows” if they’re working or not.
Speaking to The One Show host Alex Jones, the 82-year-old said she has asked her oncologist about her likely prognosis.
She said specialists have warned her she is likely to die “sometime in the next 10 years”.
(Image: PA)
“But how soon, how late, I do not know,” she said.
Esther added on the programme: “It does concentrate on your mind to be told that you have stage four lung cancer. You do think, wait a minute, I’ve got less time than maybe I had assumed so you prioritise.
“As much as I love it and as much as I respect people who wanted to die working, for me I didn’t want to die working.”
(Image: BBC)
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
The That’s Life! star has “no regrets”, telling fans: “I’m not good at regrets. What I treasure most are the fantastic friendships I have made thanks to That’s Life! during the last 50 years, the people I met, and the team who worked so hard, and laughed so hard, together for so long.”
And she’s putting that philosophy into a new book, Older & Bolder – which she refers to as an “A-Z of surviving almost everything”.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
