Working THROUGH IT

VF's royals correspondent reveals how she fought her own battle with cancer—‘ile reporting on the Windsors’ diagnoses

- Katie Nicholl

HAVING BEEN A journalist for nearly two decades, I’ve developed something of an immunity to breaking difficult news stories, but reporting on the Princess of Wales's recent cancer diagnosis floored me. I’m not ashamed to say that when I heard the news, just moments before going on air, I shed a tear. Here was a young woman, fit and in her prime, facing every mother’s worst nightmare. My empathy for what Princess Catherine and her family were going through ran deep, because almost a year to the day before her announcement, I was diagnosed with cancer.

Like the princess, I was in my 40s and a busy mom juggling home life, young children, and a demanding career. I was also super fit, ate a healthy, balanced diet, and didn’t drink much alcohol. But on Valentine’s Day 2023, I was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a relatively rare but aggressive form of liver cancer, also known as bile duct cancer. The day I took that call was the day my life changed forever.

I had gone to my GP just before Christmas 2022 after suffering from mild heart palpitations and indigestion. I'd put the mild symptoms down to stress, as it had been a busy year. I'd written two books, cohosted Dynasty, the Vanity Fair podcast, and reported on the late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

Following the checkup, my blood work came back normal, and my GP thought I might be on the brink of a burnout and advised me to take some time off work. Because of my heart palpitations and a sense that something was not right, I pushed for a scan, and my doctor agreed to send me to a cardiologist to rule out any underlying heart conditions. ACT and an electrocardiogram both came back normal. However, during a further scan of my aorta, the radiologist discovered a suspicious lesion on my liver. A further MRI revealed a tumor the size of my palm.