I’m battling cancer, says Gardeners’ World Rachel
GARDENERS’ World host Rachel de Thame has revealed she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
The 56-year- old spoke about her diagnosis after viewers questioned why she was absent from the BBC’s Chelsea Flower Show coverage.
The mother- of-four said doctors detected the cancer early – and assured fans she remained ‘very positive’.
Explaining why she hadn’t been covering the annual gardening show, 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. And it’s caught early so that’s all very positive, so, on the whole, it’s better not to be working too much just now.’
Speaking to presenter Joe Swift on Thursday night’s BBC2 highlights show, she added: ‘I think your initial instinct is to sort of hide away and pretend nothing’s going on.
‘But actually the longer it’s gone on the more I felt that what you really want is for something positive to come out of it and I have literally been clinging on to the things I love – my friends, my family and my garden.’ Miss de Thame, who has varieties of roses, dahlias and lupins named after her, claimed her garden had been a source of solace during the difficult time.
‘If you’re going through some sort of chronic illness or you’re recovering from something fairly major, cancer or whatever, I just believe more intensely than I have done before that it’s vital to go out and be in a garden’, she said.
The former model said that although she is still gardening, she has to avoid certain tasks to prevent infection.
But she was adamant her diagnosis would not stop her from enjoying the Chelsea Flower Show.
Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don later told viewers: ‘Anybody who knows Rachel would know that wild horses wouldn’t have kept her from Chelsea this year.
‘That message of hope and belief in the healing power of gardens is not only helping her but spreads to all of us too, so thank you for that.’ Following her appearance on the show, London-born Miss de Thame said she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the messages of support.
Writing on Twitter, she said: ‘Thank you so much, it means a great deal to me.’ Miss de Thame is a popular member of the Gardeners’ World team but has courted controversy in the past.
In 2009 she upset the horticultural world on her Chelsea Flower Show debut by claiming professional training is no substitute for ‘a good eye’.
And in 2015 Miss de Thame, whose eldest and youngest children were born 17 years apart, spoke out about being banned from breastfeeding at the event.