Rachael Bland: BBC radio presenter tweets 'goodbye' after being told she has days to live
Presenter of Radio 5 Live podcast on cancer is completing memoir for 2-year-old son
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BBC Radio 5 Live news presenter Rachael Bland has revealed on social media that she has “only got days” left to live, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 40-year-old co-host of the You, Me and the Big C podcast, which discusses the illness, was told her cancer was incurable in May this year.
On Twitter she said: “In the words of the legendary Frank S - I’m afraid the time has come my friends. And suddenly. I’m told I’ve only got days. It’s very surreal.
“Thank you so much for all the support I’ve received. Debs and lozz will continue with the #youmebigc podcast. Au revoir my friends.”
Bland has said she was diagnosed with primary triple negative breast cancer in November 2016 and has been documenting the process of dealing with the disease on the podcast, which has the tagline “putting the can in cancer”.
On 3 August she revealed she had been ruled out of clinical trials due to medical complications.
She has been married to her husband Steve for almost five years, and recently said she was rushing to complete a memoir for her two-year-old son Freddie.
“It's now a real race against time for me to finish my book For Freddie,” she said. “If you need me, you'll find me typing and drinking gallons of water!”
She later said she had secured an agent who was working to find a publisher for the memoir.
Her co-hosts Deborah James and Lauren Mahon will continue presenting You, Me and the Big C.
Former Radio 5 Live presenter Richard Bacon sent his support to Bland on Twitter, writing: “Days. Devastating. Rachael I know saying I'm thinking of you (and our magnificent time together on air, especially all that late night fun) doesn't change anything.
“But I am and I'm so very sorry. Your podcast has helped change the way people talk about all this. You're wonderful.”
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Writing in The Telegraph last month, Bland said: “I’m not scared of dying. I only fear for those who I leave behind.”
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