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Dame Esther Rantzen considers ending own life at Dignitas after cancer diagnosis-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer earlier this year.
Dame Esther Rantzen announced her lung cancer diagnosis earlier this year(Picture: ViacomCBS)
Dame Esther Rantzen has said she is considering the option of assisted dying if her lung cancer treatment does not improve her condition.
The 83-year-old Childline founder and broadcaster, who revealed in May that the disease had progressed to stage four, has joined Swiss organisation Dignitas.
In an interview with BBC’s The Today Podcast, she said her next scan in a few weeks will tell her ‘whether the miracle drug is performing its miracle or whether it’s given up.’
The TV legend added: ‘I have joined Dignitas. I have in my brain thought, well, if the next scan says nothing’s working I might buzz off to Zurich – but it puts my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me.
‘And that means that the police might prosecute them. So we’ve got to do something. At the moment, it’s not really working, is it?’
Speaking to Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan, Dame Esther also called for a free vote on assisted dying as she feels it is ‘important that the law catches up with what the country wants.’
Dame Esther said she had joined Swiss assisted dying organisation Dignitas (Picture: PA)
Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
The Health and Social Care Committee is due to publish its report into assisted dying and assisted suicide in England and Wales, having launched an inquiry in December 2022 to examine different perspectives in the debate.
Asked what she would do if she was made prime minister for the week, Dame Esther said: ‘I would get them to do a free vote on assisted dying. I think it’s important that the law catches up with what the country wants.’
She said she did not want her family to see her in pain (Picture: Indigo/Getty Images)
She said that her family has said it is her decision to make, adding: ‘I explained to them that actually I don’t want their last memories of me to be painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times and I don’t want that to happen.
‘I don’t want to be that sort of victim in their lives.’
Previous to this update, Dame Esther said she was doing her best to ‘hold the disease back’ and is also taking the time to treasure every day.
‘This is the Christmas I thought I wouldn’t see because last January I was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer,’ she said.
Dame Esther is best known for presenting BBC programme That’s Life! (Picture: Getty)
‘Since then I’ve been taking one of the new targeted drugs. I know it cannot cure the cancer, but it can hold it back and slow it down a bit.
‘So, I’m looking forward to spending this Christmas with my family again, an extra precious present I didn’t expect,’ she added.
This year Dame Esther will be spending the festive season with her her three children Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua from her marriage to the late Desmond Wilcox, and her five beloved grandchildren Benji, 10, Xander and Teddy, 8 Florence and Romilly, 5.
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Dame Esther became a household name at the BBC and is perhaps best known for presenting That’s Life! – a programme featuring a mix of investigations, topical issues and entertainment – from 1973 to 1994.
In addition to her success as a journalist and broadcaster, she set up children’s charity Childline in 1986, as well as The Silver Line in 2013, a charity that supports elderly people in the UK who are battling loneliness.
Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.
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