'Nonsense to suggest my miracle drug is a reason to oppose assisted dying'

DAME Esther Rantzen has hit back at critics of her assisted dying campaign after a columnist used her terminal cancer experience as an argument against it.

- Hanna Geissler

The broadcaster, 84, has stage four lung cancer and is backing efforts to change the law to give people nearing the end of life greater control over their deaths.

Telegraph writer Michael Deacon suggested she should "see the folly of her campaigning" after receiving life-prolonging treatment.

His comments came after Dame Esther revealed that a new wonder drug, Osimertinib, may keep her disease at bay "for months, even years". She told of her joy at planting spring bulbs in the hope that she will live long enough to see them flower.

Mr Deacon wrote: "Well, all I can say is it's lucky that 'assisted dying' is not legal just yet. Indeed, had it been legal a year ago, Dame Esther might be no longer with us.