Vanessa Feltz breaks down over Dame Esther Rantzen's devastating cancer update
01.03.2024 - 10:05
/ ok.co.uk
Vanessa Feltz burst into tears after an emotional chat with Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter. Rebecca Wilcox appeared on Vanessa's Talk TV programme, where she spoke candidly about her mother, Dame Esther, 83, and her devastating cancer battle.
The TV presenter and journalist, who has stage four lung cancer, has been using her platform to call for a vote on legalising assisted dying.
Dame Esther has been open about how choosing when to end her life would allow her to feel "confidence" knowing her death will be "dignified". Speaking on behalf of her mother on Vanessa’s show, Rebecca discussed Dame Esther's decision to sign up for the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.
"Mum's ideal death, my ideal death that I imagine, I share this with many people, would be to be in bed surrounded by my loved ones," said Rebecca. "Take a very gentle cocktail of whatever it may be, and I know I'm simply [saying] buying the medicine here, but then to gently drift off holding their hands.
Who wouldn't hold that? Who instead would want to be in writhing agony for possibly months?" Vanessa, 62, who is a family friend of Dame Esther's struggled to hold back her emotions as she burst into tears. "Rebecca, thank you very much, and give mummy all my love and a big kiss from me please," she said.
Dame Esther also opened up about her cancer battle on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, explaining: "It's a constant background to everything I do. I'm watching the spring flowers come out, thinking: 'This is probably my last spring.' When I talk to my grandchildren when they come and visit me, I'm very aware these moments are precious.” Talking about her wish to take her life into her own hands, she said: “They may be the last memories they have of
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