Dame Esther Rantzen says she ‘doesn't have long left to live’

Dame Esther Rantzen has shared a heartbreaking update on her health three years after being told she was terminally ill.

The legendary broadcaster and ChildLine founder, 85, initially believed she would have just weeks to live after her doctors diagnosed her with stage four lung cancer in 2023.

A 'wonder drug', she started taking the following year, bought her some more time, but Rantzen has now revealed that the medication is no longer working. She previously revealed she was prescribed the cancer growth blocker Osimertinib in a Daily Mail article where she discussed the 'ten things that make her so happy to be alive'.

According to Cancer Research UK, the medication 'blocks proteins on cancer cells that encourage the cancer to grow', which helps 'slow down or stop the growth of an advanced cancer for a time'.

But while sharing an update on her condition on Sunday (1 February), Rantzen revealed that her body has now stopped responding to the 'miracle' drug.

Esther Rantzen, pictured celebrating her 85th birthday last year, says she 'doesn't have long left' (PA/Family Handout)

The former BBC star explained that she is now set to undergo a scan next week, which will 'reveal how far her disease has spread'.

In the poignant article for The Observer, she called on the UK government to up the ante when it comes to changing the 'current messy, cruel criminal law' surrounding assisted dying.

Rantzen has been a longtime advocate for euthanasia and previously revealed she was considering ending her life with the help of the Swiss organisation, Dignitas.

She explained she'd like to head to Zurich with her 'nearest and dearest' before dining on caviar and champagne, while being able to 'say goodbye fairly gracefully'.

Reflecting on the last three years since receiving her terminal diagnosis, Rantzen said: "To my astonishment, thanks to one of the new miracle drugs, I’m still here. Not for much longer.

"The drug has stopped working now, and a scan next week will reveal how far my disease has spread. I’m definitely not going to live long enough to see the assisted dying bill become law. So if my life becomes unbearably painful and I long for a quick, pain-free death, I will have to go to Dignitas in Switzerland, alone.

The legendary broadcaster said a 'miracle drug' which delayed the advancement of her lung cancer has stopped working now (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

"Some members of the House of Lords are doing their very best right now to prevent any change in the current messy, cruel criminal law. Which means they will force more families to watch the terminally ill people they love and care for spend hours, sometimes days and weeks, dying slowly in agony, when even the best palliative care fails to alleviate their pain."

The former That's Life! presenter said that although some patients can afford the services Dignitas offer, they are still 'unable to say their last goodbye to those they love because the current cruel criminal law means their loved ones would then be investigated by the police for murder'.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was voted through by MPs in the Commons in June, and on Friday (30 January), it returned to the House of Lords for an eighth day of scrutiny in the upper chamber.

There has been speculation that the bill could fall if peers do not get through the more than 1,000 amendments that have been tabled.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government would 'remain neutral' on the matter.

But in Rantzen's eyes, the Lords 'are not being honest', as she went on: "The real motive behind these 1,000 amendments is not to improve the bill but to block it.

Campaigners in support of the UK bringing in an assisted dying bill pictured in 2024 (Carl Court/Getty Images)

"The truth is that none of the amendments they propose would enable them to vote for the bill because they oppose it on principle.

"They may be personal religious principles they are forcing on non-believers. They may be disability campaigners who believe, quite wrongly, that the bill will apply pressure to disabled people when it applies only to terminally ill people like me, with six months or less to live.

"Or they may think the conditions may change, when other countries like Australia prove they don’t and haven’t."

She pointed to the success other places around the world - such as Scotland and the Isle of Man - have seen after 'reforming their own old inhumane laws'.

"No change in the law can come in time for me," Rantzen added. "I always knew that.

"But on the third anniversary of my own diagnosis all I ask is that future generations be given the confidence and hope of a fast, pain-free death when they need it most."