I’m wrapping 18 years of birthday gifts for my son
BBC Rachael’s heartbreaking revelation after being told she has just days to live
CANCER-STRICKEN newsreader Rachael Bland has revealed she is spending her final days wrapping 18 years’ worth of birthday presents for her son.
The Radio 5 Live journalist, 40, has also put together a collection of keepsakes to help Freddie, three, remember her after she’s gone.
Mrs Bland, 40, revealed on Monday she has just days to live after a two-year battle against breast cancer. She was told in April this year that it was incurable.
She has put aside notebooks, perfume and personal items so Freddie won’t forget what his mother smelled and sounded like. She has also made plans for her son’s future – including an order that his hair is not cut too short. The mother of one wrote online that despite not wanting to ask doctors outright, she had known she did not have long before what she calls D-Day, or ‘death day’.
She said: ‘If I were to release all my feelings about leaving my precious, beautiful Freddie behind, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rest of my time on this earth.
‘So I tuck them away, graciously accept every little hug, squeeze, cuddle and utterance of “I love you so much, mummy” and try not to let him see it break my heart.
‘My main plan has been to write my memoir, “For Freddie”, which is almost finished. It’s a collection of all those stories your parents tell you over the years from their point of view, mixed in with all the advice they give you.
‘I have a WhatsApp group with [her husband] Steve’s sister where I send her things I want for Freddie and his future. The things that might overwhelm and upset Steve now but she will make sure happens. Like not cutting his hair too short until he really insists, or my wish for him to go to the very best school and university possible, so long as that’s what he wants.
‘I’m also planning and wrapping birthday presents which he can open between the ages of four and twenty one.’
In the post, published on the Huffington Post website, she said: ‘The main thing is that, while he’s so young, I want him to remember me in some way. I hope the book and these gifts and notes will leave an imprint of my love behind for the rest of his life. So he can be sure how very much I love him.’
Mrs Bland, who has documented her fight against cancer in a series of blogs and podcasts, said: ‘I was sent so many beautiful messages, along with many telling me to go to foreign climes to try miracle cancer treatment.
‘There were even some berating me for not trying hard enough to save myself. But I am 100 per cent behind modern medicine and enrolled on a clinical trial.’
Her tweet earlier this week revealing she had days to live sparked thousands of responses.
BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire wrote: ‘Courage, grace, laughter – that’s you. You are amazing.’ Another BBC colleague Eleanor Oldroyd said: ‘You have lived a life to inspire millions.’