Davina McCall reveals she was ‘so angry’ at brain tumour diagnosis
Davina McCall has revealed how she felt when she received her diagnosis of a benign brain tumour last year, saying she was "so angry" about it.
The My Mum, Your Dad host, 57, was diagnosed with a colloid cyst last November. It was discovered during a health check-up that she was offered as part of her work in campaigning for more awareness around menopause.
Speaking as a guest on her podcast Begin Again, which was taken over by Steven Bartlett for a special episode this week, McCall said: "I felt like this thing had taken control of me and I was so angry about that. I couldn’t… I couldn’t let it go.
"[I thought], 'How dare you control my daily life like this and make me feel every day like I’m in danger'," she said. A colloid cyst is an uncommon type of tumour, which can "very, very rarely… cause sudden death", McCall added.
"I have newfound enormous sympathy for people who have benign brain tumours. Because you think… I have had so many people say to me, 'Well, at least it was benign'. And you think, 'You have no idea that benign brain tumours can still kill you'.
"It’s just, you don’t know when it’s going to happen. It could happen tomorrow, it could happen in years’ time. It’s different to cancer, but it is also awful. A benign does not mean fine," she continued.
McCall had surgery to remove the tumour shortly after the diagnosis. She spent time in intensive care before continuing her recovery at home as her partner, celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, looked after her.
The TV presenter told Bartlett that not knowing whether the tumour would kill her or not was "pretty terrifying". "I know enough now to know that, look, I am healthy. I look after myself. I exercise.
"I’ve got all these things going for me, but stress is a killer. And I want to de-stress my life. I do not want to live with the stress of thinking any minute, you know, I could be taken out by something."
She also said she "seriously believes wholeheartedly that somewhere in my genetic makeup, [the tumour] was in my stars from birth, in my brain at birth", but that she never thought it was "unfair".
The broadcaster revealed that she named her tumour "Jeffrey", because she doesn’t have any friends of the same name, and that she threw a "happy birthday party with friends" for Jeffrey.
She explained that she did not want "sympathy" or for other people to "carry the burden" of her surgery.
"I did go and address my will and make sure that was airtight," McCall said, following warnings from her doctor about possible fatal risks during surgery. She spoke to Douglas about her wishes in case of death and said she wrote "letters of wishes to all the children and put those in my will".
"[I wanted] to try and find a way that [my children] would all find a way through if I didn’t make it," she recalled, adding that her youngest son Chester, 18, did not realise how serious the surgery was until she returned home.
"I said, 'Well, I’m pleased, you know, because look, here I am and it all went well and it was fine'. But in a way, there was a part of me that was thinking, 'If it hadn’t been fine, he would have struggled the most'."
Non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, the NHS states. Symptoms can include headaches, vision problems and drowsiness.
Following her surgery, McCall told fans in a social media post that her short-term memory was "a bit remiss". "Just to say that now I’m trying to sleep a lot and get better," she reassured them. "My short-term memory really is improving a lot every day, and it has been an example to me on how much sleep helps me recover from everything.
"So if I feel a bit confused or I’m struggling to concentrate, I just go to sleep and I wake up completely renewed and refreshed so I know that my brain needs lots of sleep."
Watch: Russell Watson warns of long recovery ahead for Davina McCall
Read more about Davina McCall:
The psychology of a new hair style as Davina McCall showcases blonde pixie cut (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
Davina McCall shares a post-surgery fitness update (Good Housekeeping, 2-min read)
Masked Singer star Davina McCall thought 'I'm going to die' before making major change (DevonLive, 2-min read)
