MUM DESERVES 'PEACE OF MIND' IN RIGHT TO DIE FIGHT

DAME Esther Rantzen's daughter has urged MPs to give her mum "peace of mind" and back assisted dying today.

- By Hanna Geissler and Martyn Brown

Rebecca Wilcox said the campaigner and TV star would watch the crucial Commons debate from her home. She added that her mother was "coping" on a new drug as she lives with terminal lung cancer.

Dame Esther, 84, has been at the forefront of the fight to legalise assisted dying since revealing her stage four diagnosis in late 2023. Rebecca, 45, added: "She's going to be watching the debate and is very interested to see how it turns out, and hopeful.

"Mum has been indomitable her whole life. This shouldn't have to be her campaign. She should have peace of mind, she should know that whatever happens she has a choice at the end of her life.

"That is not going to happen for her. The only bright spot in that for us is that she may have enabled it to happen for other people. And I'm going to keep going for as long as it takes."

Dame Esther's family recently revealed that the cancer "wonder drug" she was taking had stopped working, and she was too unwell to consider travelling to Swiss assisted-suicide clinic Dignitas.

Ahead of today's debate, the Childline founder said: "I continue to fully support Kim Leadbeater's assisted dying Bill, which will give patients like me with a terminal diagnosis the choice they need and deserve at the end of their lives."