Dame Esther Rantzen has been campaigning to legalise assisted dying since she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023.

Esther and her daughter pose for picture, with the dame in red jacket and Rebecca in grey jumper

Esther’s daughter shared an update on her health (Image: Dave Benett Library / Getty)

Dame Esther Rantzen, who is currently battling a terminal illness, cannot make the journey to Dignitas for assisted dying her daughter Rebecca Wilcox painfully disclosed. The daughter shared with 5 News: “Frankly Dignitas is out of the window for us. You have to be relatively healthy to do that. If she had gone, she would have gone months before she would have died here.”

This revelation follows shortly after Labour’s Kim Leadbeater opted to push back the proposed assisted dying Bill to 2029. On this postponement, Rebecca said: “I just wish that people understood that all the assisted dying Bill is, is a choice for people that want it. All it is is giving you peace of mind, I cannot tell you how powerful that would be right now for my mum.

Esther's daughter Rebecca Wilcox smiles in purple scarf and black jacket

Rebecca Wilcox, daughter of Esther Rantzen, among supporters of Dignity in Dying (Image: PA)

“She is a person who has fought her whole life for other people, and she has no control now. Why can’t we give people like my mum with a terminal diagnosis, with no other choice, some choice as to when and how and where they die?”

In the UK, assisting a death remains against the law, with potential imprisonment up to 14 years. Prominent figures such as Bake Off’s Prue Leith and Jonathan Dimbleby have joined the chorus demanding legal reforms, reports the Mirror.

Dame Esther’s career took off as a sound effects assistant on BBC radio, before she transitioned into a researcher role for various shows. She became the face of the consumer programme That’s Life! in 1973, making her one of television’s most recognisable personalities.

Smiling Esther Rantzen in floral jacket

Dame Esther Rantzen is battling terminal cancer (Image: PA)

In addition, she established the charity Childline in 1986, which has since provided invaluable support to thousands of young people facing bullying and abuse.

Her family is determined to make every single second left of her life count. Rebecca, 45, told Express.co.uk: “Every day is a big moment for us – it’s no longer our last Christmas, our last Mother’s Day or our last Easter. Every single day is precious.

“The most important thing is to see each other as often as possible because life is finite, we are all very aware of that, and to love each moment we have together.

“My brother said living with mum is like living next to a volcano – you don’t know whether the flowing lava is going to be flowers and celebrations or explosion. She’s never done something to win our approval, it’s always because of what is right.

“Her early adopting of campaigns is probably the most underrated skill she has. She has a strange zeitgeist, even at 84. She is always on the money and always gets it. She is the person I ring several times a day and see her several times a week. But hell hath no fury like Esther being told no.”