BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Rachael Bland, who has incurable breast cancer, has announced on social media that she has only days to live. The 40-year-old, diagnosed in November 2016, shared the news on Twitter, quoting Frank Sinatra: 'I'm afraid the time has come my friends. And suddenly. I'm told I've only got days. It's very surreal.'
Bland co-hosts the podcast 'You, Me and the Big C' with Deborah James and Lauren Mahon, and confirmed she would continue presenting it. She was told in May that her cancer was incurable and hoped a clinical trial could help, but a scan two months later showed the disease had spread further.
Colleagues and public figures have expressed support. Former presenter Richard Bacon tweeted: 'Days. Devastating. Rachael I know saying I'm thinking of you 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.'
Fellow 5 Live presenter Nicky Campbell called her 'an astonishing human being', while Tony Livesey said: 'To the lady who held my hand when I started on @bbc5live I want her to know we're all spiritually holding hers right now.' BBC's Victoria Derbyshire praised her 'courage, grace, laughter'.
Bland, originally from Cardiff and living in Cheshire, has been a BBC news presenter for over 15 years. She is writing a memoir for her two-year-old son Freddie, to share advice she won't be around to give in person. Last month she wrote: 'I'm not scared of dying. I only fear for those I leave behind.'
