Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter becomes emotional as she makes shattering admission

Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter becomes emotional as she makes shattering admission

Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter became emotional as she opened up about her mother’s condition on Thursday. The broadcaster is currently fighting terminal lung cancer after initially discovering a lump under her arm pit around Christmas in 2022. Just weeks later in January 2023, a biopsy confirmed that Dame Esther, 84, had cancer.

In a heartbreaking admission, she announced in May of the same year, she confirmed that her condition was at stage four and was taking a new form of medication to keep the condition at bay and make her comfortable. Now, her daughter Rebecca Wilcox has shared a heartbreaking update on Dame Esther’s condition.

During an interview with 5 News, Rebecca admitted that Dignitas, the assisted dying programme in Switzerland, that Dame Esther had signed up for is no longer an option due to her condition. As she struggled to contain her emotions, she also explained that the medication is no longer working for her mother.

When asked about Dame Esther’s condition and if there had been an improvement, Rebecca said: “Right, well, I hate to contradict you with bad news, I really wish that was true.

“But, I don’t think that’s the case anymore.” As she shared the news, Rebecca apologised as she had been “thrown” by the question.

“I just wish that people understood that all the Assisted Dying Bill is, is choice for people that want it. We thought she had weeks, in fact, she has outlived that prognosis by nearly two years. She would never have just gone and taken an overdose as she got a diagnosis, that’s not how it works.

“What it does, is it takes away those last few days of pain.” Elsewhere, she went on to add: “Frankly Dignitas is out of the window for us as well. You have to be relatively healthy to do that, if she had gone, she would have gone months before she would have died here.”

Dame Esther has been a fierce campaigner for the Assisted Dying Bill which is currently being debated in Parliament. The star said that she had watched love ones go through heartbreaking suffering which “obliterates” the memories that loved ones have with the individual.

Rebecca admitted she had seen her mum suffer from the “trauma” over her condition and prognosis, admitting that Dame Esther has no idea how she will die. “The fact that she doesn’t know how her death is going to happen, how the pain is going to progress, the exhaustion, the fatigue, what symptoms are going to come in,” she said.

She added: “She is a person who has fought her whole life for other people, and she has no control now. Why can’t we give people like my mum with a terminal diagnosis, with no other choice, some choice as to when and how and where they die?”

The update comes just days after MP Kim Leadbeater, who was behind the Assisted Dying Bill had agreed to pause the introduction until 2029.

While Assisted Dying is currently illegal in England, the bull has recently been passed by the Isle of Man parliament and is currently awaiting royal assent from King Charles, which would make the Isle of Man the first place in Great Britain to legalise assisted dying.

According to a list published by the England Parliament, MPs including Dame Angela Eagle, Samantha Dixon, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Jeremy Hunt and Sir Oliver Dowden have backed the campaign. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Jeremy Corbyn have refused to back the bill.

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