Dame Esther Rantzen, 84, shares 'glimpse of hope' amid cancer battle as she delivers assisted dying update
Dame Esther Rantzen has been given some hope by a potential law change
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Dame Esther Rantzen has opened up about finally seeing a "glimpse of hope" over a major update on assisted dying laws.
The 84-year-old journalist and television presenter has been campaigning for assisted dying to be legalised since her lung cancer diagnosis in January 2023.
Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer of Thoroton is set to introduce a private members' Bill in the House of Lords that would allow terminally ill adults to end their lives if they have six months or less to live.
Wiring in the Daily Express about the update, Rantzen penned: "This week, for the first time for over a year, I caught a glimpse of hope… I have dared to look forward."
She went on to describe how the first reading of the bill had given her hopes of "light at the end of a tunnel which has trapped me for so long".
"What we terminally ill need is to be allowed the hope that if life becomes intolerable, we can ask for help to leave it," she continued.
Esther Rantzen has been campaining for a change in assisted dying laws since her cancer diagnosis
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She detailed how existing laws about assisted dying mean anyone who would accompany her to Switzerland to use their end-of-life facilities would be breaking the law.
Highlighting the potential impact of the potential change, she added: "The law might actually change in time for me to die peacefully at home surrounded by those I love. Suddenly my heart lifted."
Rantzen's daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, described last week how her mother is "living from scan to scan".
Back in March, Willcox appeared at the Royal Television Society Awards on behalf of her mother, who had been honoured with a Gold Medal – the charity's highest accolade.
Dame Esther Rantzen has been given some hope by a potential law change
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In an emotional speech, she admitted that it "infuriated" her that her mother had not been well enough to attend the event and accept the award herself.
"It's totally bizarre to accept this on behalf of mum because she should be here. It was such a wonderful speech that Susanna Reid did and such a warm feeling from the room and it infuriates me that she can’t be here," she reflected.
"Her health doesn’t allow it but I hope that she’s going to see it and I hope that she can feel what we all felt in the room," the 44-year-old concluded.
Rantzen's campaign has been backed by some fellow famous faces, including the Great British Bake Off's Prue Leith.
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Esther Rantzen campaigning has been backed by other famous faces
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Leith’s brother died in 2012 after suffering from terminal cancer, and the baking expert threw her support behind the campaign.
The current laws in England and Wales make it a criminal offence to assist someone in ending their life.
In an emotional debate in Westminster Hall earlier this year, MPs from across political parties gave candid speeches for and against the law change.
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