Dame Esther Rantzen Shares Heartbreaking Update as She Faces Her Final Christmas After Ending Cancer Treatment
Dame Esther Rantzen has delivered one of her most emotional updates yet, speaking candidly about life after stopping all treatment for stage-four lung cancer.
The beloved broadcaster, 85, was first diagnosed in January 2023 and underwent months of experimental therapy. But the side effects eventually outweighed the benefits — and she is now receiving no medical treatment at all.
“I’m celebrating Christmas early… just in case.”
In a deeply moving interview with The Times, Dame Esther revealed that she has planned an early Christmas with her children and five grandchildren — because she fears she may not live long enough to reach the real date.
“This year I’m having an ‘official’ Christmas slightly ahead of time,” she shared. “I want to be sure I’m alive to enjoy it with them.”
Her daughter Rebecca will once again decorate the home “beautifully,” using Esther’s old ornaments — a tradition that has brought the family comfort for decades.
“I didn’t expect to see another Christmas.”
Esther admitted she is astonished to still be here.
“When I was diagnosed last January, I didn’t think I would make it to the next Christmas. Being here now is a wonderful surprise.”
But her most recent scans show the disease is continuing to progress, though slowly.
Life without treatment — and a new fear: “scanxiety”
She explained that her doctors chose to suspend her medication because the side effects had become too severe.
“The cancers are progressing, but very slowly,” she said.
Then she revealed a new struggle she never expected — the mental toll of waiting for every new scan result.
“We cancer patients call it ‘scanxiety.’ As each scan approaches, your fear rises. You have no idea what is happening inside your body, and every appointment could bring terrible news.”
Her final wish for 2026
Esther, a long-time advocate for the Assisted Dying Bill, said her greatest hope is that the legislation will finally pass in full through Parliament in 2026 — even though she doesn’t believe she will live to see it.
She has been one of the bill’s strongest public supporters, arguing that terminally ill people deserve “a peaceful, dignified choice” at the end of life.
“These are people whose suffering is unbearable,” she said. “They don’t want to shorten their lives — they want to shorten an agonising death.”
Planning her own memorial
In her trademark style — honest, practical, and unexpectedly humorous — Esther revealed she has been actively planning her own memorial service.
“It’s actually quite fun to organize,” she said with a smile. “I’m being ruthless with favours. And thankfully, my friends are magnificent readers — Tom Conti, Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench.
It’s going to be quite an event.
Pity I can’t be there myself.”
Did asbestos exposure play a role?
Esther has previously questioned whether her lung cancer may be connected to asbestos at the BBC’s Lime Grove Studios, where she filmed That’s Life! for 21 years. She recalled workers in protective suits tearing down asbestos-ridden walls during the late 1980s.
Her team even nicknamed the hallway “asbestos alley.”