I’ve weeks to live says radio’s Rev Ruth in a final broadcast
REVEREND Ruth Scott, who for years soothed listeners with Radio 2 Breakfast Show's “Pause for Thought” segment, yesterday gave what is expected to be her final broadcast – from her hospital bed as she faces death.
The 60-year-old stunned listeners as she revealed she has just weeks to live after battling cancer for two years.
Ruth was interviewed on Virgin Radio in hospital by Chris Evans, her colleague for almost a decade on the BBC.
With husband Chris at her side, she spoke of leaving her children, Freya, 30 and Tian, 23. She warned the 52-year-old
Virgin host: “I might not be coherent.” But she went on: “I've got two or three weeks to live at most so we're in the middle of saying goodbyes with the family and thinking about how it is to be separating.”
She added: “Death feels very weird at one level but it feels very natural at another level.
“I've got to accept the fact that I'm dying. I'm not frightened. I've had the most fantastic life. I just wish that it had been longer.”
Ruth was diagnosed two years ago with lymphoma but hopes of donor stem cell treatment were dashed.
Evans mentioned her work as a missionary, nurse and midwife before describing her as “a hand to hold for thousands of people in her life”.
The Rev Ruth spoke of a tender moment in which her son sat at her bedside and asked if she could give him 60 years of wisdom.
“My son Tian keeps saying to me ‘I love you, but it's because I won't be able tell you for very much longer',” she said.
She also said she thought she would end up in a wicker coffin, or have ashes scattered by the Isle of Arran in Scotland. At the end of the 20-minute interview, Evans refused to say goodbye as the pair admitted “who knows” what comes next.