'I'm watching the spring flowers come up thinking this is probably my last spring'

Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther on the 'constant background' of terminal cancer

- Giles Sheldrick

DAME Esther Rantzen says fighting terminal cancer has been a "constant background" to everything in her life since her diagnosis and believes she has probably seen her last spring.

Since revealing in January last year that she has Stage 4 lung cancer, the lifelong campaigner has wrestled with how to come to terms with the inevitable.

She said going public about her disease and being searingly honest about the looming spectre of death has been hard yet rewarding. Her fight to change the law on assisted dying could be her lasting legacy.

Dame Esther, 83, said: "My life would be completely different if I was absolutely confident I could have a painless death surrounded by my loved ones and that if palliative care wasn't working for me then I could ask to be helped to end my life. It's my choice and if I choose it then I think the law should allow me to.

"Like everyone in my situation, my diagnosis is a constant background to everything I do.