Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed that the medication keeping her alive has ceased to be effective, announcing she does not have "much longer" remaining.
The 85-year-old broadcaster marked three years since receiving her stage four lung cancer diagnosis by sharing the devastating news in The Observer on Sunday.
"To my astonishment, thanks to one of the new miracle drugs, I'm still here. Not for much longer," she wrote.
"The drug has stopped working now and a scan next week will reveal how far my disease has spread."
Esther Rantzen said she hasn't got 'much longer'
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The ChildLine founder had been taking the cancer growth blocker Osimertinib since 2024, which works by targeting proteins that encourage tumour development.
When first diagnosed in January 2023, she believed she might only have weeks to live.
The television legend used her health update to make an impassioned case for changing assisted dying legislation, which she has championed for years.
"I'm definitely not going to live long enough to see the assisted dying bill become law.
Esther Rantzen in 1976
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"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," she stated.
Dame Esther accused peers of attempting to derail the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through procedural tactics, with over 1,000 amendments now tabled in the upper chamber.
"The real motive behind these 1,000 amendments is not to improve the bill but to block it," she argued, describing the current legal framework as "messy" and "cruel".
The legislation cleared the Commons in June but faces an uncertain future as supporters warn opponents may run down the parliamentary clock.
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Esther Rantzen presented That's Life! on BBC for more than two decades between 1973 and 1994
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Dame Esther first disclosed her lung cancer diagnosis in January 2023, later confirming it had advanced to stage four.
The following year, she announced her registration with Dignitas, the Swiss organisation that provides assisted dying services in Zurich.
She has been vocal in her criticism of British law, which could see relatives face police investigation for murder if they accompany a terminally ill loved one to the facility.
"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," she wrote.
Esther Rantzen first disclosed her lung cancer diagnosis in January 2023, later confirming it had advanced to stage four
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"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."
Dame Esther presented That's Life! on BBC for more than two decades between 1973 and 1994, becoming one of Britain's most recognisable broadcasters.
She established ChildLine in 1986, creating a lifeline for vulnerable young people, and later founded Silver Line in 2012 to tackle isolation among older adults.
Despite her prognosis, the television icon has spoken of finding joy in everyday moments from her New Forest home.