Esther Rantzen daughter vows to 'ground plane' to Dignitas as she reacts to news
Dame Esther Rantzen 's daughter Rebecca Wilcox has opened up about her mother's heartbreaking decision.
It comes as Dame Esther said she is considering the option of assisted dying if her lung cancer treatment does not improve her condition. The 83-year-old Childline founder and broadcaster, who revealed in May that her cancer had progressed to stage four, has joined Swiss organisations Dignitas.
Speaking on Tuesday's Good Morning Britain, Rebecca, 43, spoke about her mother's heartbreaking decision. She said: "I would personally want to ground her plane if she was going to fly to Zurich but I know that it's her decision. I just don't ever want her to go."
Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter Rebecca Wilcox has opened up about her mother's heartbreaking decision (ITV)Asked if she thinks her mother's decision is right, she added: "Absolutely, absolutely! We're allowed to make decisions about everything in our own lives. We're allowed to make this decision, and I know this is constantly said about our pets, so I have a very elderly horse who will have to be put down if something happens to him and I would be considered inhumane if I didn't do that.
"And yet if mum is experiencing such dreadful symptoms, and there is no hope, then why shouldn't she be able to make that decision? She said to me, we have medicines and drugs that help prolong life, why are we allowed to use those and not allowed to use the ones that make you have a dignified death? I mean, that's what Dignitas is, it's a dignified death. It is your own choice."
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Rebecca heartbreakingly added: "It's really hard to talk about because I don't want her to die but I want her to have the choice." Elsewhere in the interview, Rebecca said: "She always promised us she would live forever and so she's not usually one to break her promises so we're a little bit upset about that.
"But the joy of having this Christmas - it feels like a Christmas miracle and I hate saying that because it’s so saccharin and that is not what my family’s about, but when we got the diagnosis in January, we never thought we would have this Christmas again." At the end of the interview, GMB host Richard Madeley asked Rebecca if she would go with her mum when the time comes to which she said: "Legally I can't say that because I'd get in trouble, but I hear Switzerland is very nice."
It comes as Dame Esther spoke in an interview with BBC's The Today Podcast, she called for a free vote on assisted dying as she feels it is "important that the law catches up with what the country wants".
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Talking to Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan, Dame Esther explained that her next scan in a few weeks' time will tell her "whether the miracle drug is performing its miracle or whether it’s given up". The presenter added: "I have joined Dignitas. I have in my brain thought, well, if the next scan says nothing’s working I might buzz off to Zurich – but it puts my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me.
"And that means that the police might prosecute them. So we’ve got to do something. At the moment, it’s not really working, is it?" Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. The Health and Social Care Committee is due to publish its report into assisted dying and assisted suicide in England and Wales, having launched an inquiry in December 2022 to examine different perspectives in the debate.
Dame Esther said that her family has said it is her decision to make, adding: "I explained to them that actually I don’t want their last memories of me to be painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to be that sort of victim in their lives."
Dame Esther said she was unsure if she would see her last birthday on June 22, so it has been "very unexpected" that she has made it to the Christmas period. She added: "Anything can happen, I live in a forest, a tree can fall on me. I’ve got to drop off my perch for some reason, and I’m 83 damn it, so I should be jolly grateful and indeed am."
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