Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter gives update on mum's health amid cancer treatment

daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, has given an update on her , admitting she 'might get in trouble for being so honest'. ChildLine star, Esther, 84, who is campaigning to make assisted dying legal, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2023 and is now, sadly, stage four.

When asked by host how Esther was doing, Rebecca conceded she couldn't say much, but did give a brief update, replying: "I get in trouble because I'm overly honest. I share everything. I will tell you absolutely everything about how I am, down to latest bowel movements, should you so wish. But I mustn't tell you what she's up to because she's private, as she should be."

Revealing that her mum was "coping", she then said: "What she has said for me to say is she loves you, she sends her love and she's coping."

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It comes after Esther, who works with various charitable causes and founded the charities Childline, a helpline for children, which she set up in 1986, made a heartbreaking last wish in a new interview.

She told The Times last month: "If there is a heaven, it would be a very happy place. It's a lovely idea to meet [husband] Desmond again and all those I have loved and lost — my parents and grandparents, my close friends and family."

The seasoned journalist is currently fighting terminal lung cancer after initially discovering a lump under her arm pit around in 2022. Just weeks later in January 2023, a biopsy confirmed that Esther had cancer.

In May of the same year, she confirmed that her condition was at stage four and was taking medication to keep her comfortable and ease her symptoms.

But in March, her daughter revealed that as

Since sharing her diagnosis, the philanthropist has spoken openly about – a clinic in Switzerland where assisted dying is legal.

She says that by joining the clinic, it was the only way she was able to control the end of her life, should it become "unbearable."

But Esther has also been a strong advocate for the assisted dying bill in the UK, which is currently being debated in parliament. 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 bill was recently passed by the Isle of Man parliament and is currently awaiting royal assent from , which would make the Isle of Man the first place in Great Britain to legalise assisted dying.

Speaking about her law and how she believes it will be too late for her, Esther wrote in The Times: "I always knew that any change in the assisted dying law could not possibly come in time for me. So the delay — the law in England and Wales could be pushed back until at least 2029 — won't affect me personally."

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