BBC star reveals thinking about ‘bombshell’ tumour diagnosis ‘makes me cry’-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

Nicki Chapman has opened up about what it was like to be diagnosed with a brain tumour (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Nicki Chapman has revealed that thinking about her brain tumour diagnosis makes her ‘cry’ five years on.

The Escape to the Country host, 57, was told in 2019 that she had a brain tumour the size of a golf ball which luckily turned out to be non-malignant.

Now she’s reflected on the ‘bombshell’ tumour in a new interview, saying that the memory of the diagnosis still makes her cry.

‘It makes me cry. I have had an amazing life. And, once the bombshell of the tumour dropped, I thought, I don’t want to give this life up. But if this is it? Well – how lucky have I been?’ she told The Times.

‘And that sounds so glossy, but I was born with the glass half-full. I found a strength to deal with it. It was either take me now or let me live.’

Nicki first realised she was ill while working on her BBC property programme when she went to do her usual voiceover, but couldn’t remember the name of the executive producer, who she had known for 15 years.

The presenter was diagnosed with the tumour in 2019, but luckily it turned out to be non-malignant (Picture: Getty Images Europe)

She later said: ‘I came back and did a photoshoot and couldn’t see, I did a voiceover and I couldn’t speak, nothing would come out. It lasted about five to 10 minutes.’

Even though the tumour was non-malignant, it was the size of a golf ball and so she underwent emergency surgery back in 2019.

Only part of it could be removed in 2019 because it was too dangerous to take out completely.

The presenter was warned that surgery posed the risk of permanent loss of speech, sight or movement. 

Having continued to go for scans, Nicki received some welcome but unexpected news that the tumour had actually vanished.

She told the White Wine Question Time podcast in 2022: ‘I haven’t actually shared this with anybody but back in October [2021] I was having my yearly scan with my fantastic consultant.

‘He knows I adore him. I tell him regularly in front of my husband how much I adore him and the NHS that looked after me and continue to look after me so well.’

She first realised something was wrong while filming Escape to the Country when she struggled to speak or see and forgot her producer’s name (Picture: BBC/Naked West/Fremantle)

Nicki recalled that her doctor rang her to update her on her latest scans while she was standing in a field filming Escape To The Country.

The crew ‘moved away’ as they knew that she was receiving a call to give her privacy.

‘My amazing consultant rang me and said, “The tumour, Nicki, has gone. For the moment it’s disappeared,”…I get a bit teary just thinking about it – and they don’t know why.

‘Obviously I have still got to be monitored because these things have habits of changing. But we take the good when we can. Always look for the win in every situation.’

The presenter outlined how at that moment, the tumour was ‘gone’ with ‘no trace’, adding: ‘Just the scar tissue – and so the NHS will keep monitoring me and I will happily go to every appointment that they ask me to go to.’

She added that the news was ‘life-changing’ to receive, adding that she feels ‘fortunate’ as ‘so many people sadly’ go through similar situations with less fortunate end results.

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