BBC presenter reveals live on air that she is fighting breast cancer
RACHEL DE THAME, the gardener and television presenter known for her work on BBC Gardener’s World, has revealed live on air that she is battling breast cancer.
Viewers watching this year’s Chelsea Flower Show had contacted the programme to query why she had been absent from broadcasts on the BBC this year.
But last night she returned, revealing why she had yet to appear on screen in an interview with Joe Swift, her fellow presenter.
She said: “I haven’t been hiding, but I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the year and so I have been undergoing treatment for that. [I’m] doing well and coming towards the end of it. It was caught early so that’s very positive, so on the whole it’s better not to be working too much just now.”
The 56-year-old, who has four children, said she decided to make the news public because gardening has helped her in her recovery.
She said: “I know there’s a big message this year at Chelsea about the importance of gardening for your general and mental health … if you’re going through some chronic illness, whatever it is, it’s vital to go out and be in a garden.”
Telling viewers it helped her “normalise” the disease, she added: “I just want to be out there and doing it.”
After the interview, Monty Don said that “anybody who knows Rachel would knows that wild horses wouldn’t have kept her from Chelsea this year”.
He added: “That message of hope and belief in the healing power of gardens is not only helping her but spreads to all of us, too.”