Dame Esther Rantzen's emotional message about the assisted dying campaign has been released posthumously by her family.
The legendary That’s Life! star, who tragically passed away on 30 September aged 86, has left a "goodbye and thank you" note for all those who campaigned for the "crucial life and death issue" alongside her.
© Getty ImagesShe encouraged campaigners to "battle on", saying she wished the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have come into force in time to offer her a "swift, pain-free death" before lung cancer made her life "unbearable".
Private family funeral for the legendary Childline founder
Her loved ones also confirmed that the actress had been laid to rest in an "incredibly beautiful" private funeral. A larger memorial service is due to take place at a later date.
The Childline founder died at her home in the New Forest, three years after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
Dame Esther's daughter Rebecca Wilcox told the Press Association that the outpouring of love and support from the public had meant a great deal to the family.
"It’s been hugely comforting to know that people around the world felt the same way about her as we did," she said.
© Getty ImagesDame Esther Rantzen's heartbreaking final note in full
In her powerful note, Esther wrote: "It would have transformed the way I died if the law had allowed me to ask for assistance to die when my life had become unbearable. Not because I would have used that choice.
"But because the last days and weeks would have been infused with the hope and confidence of a swift, pain-free death and my family would not have had to witness any suffering or lack of dignity and privacy at the end.
"I know from my own experience that witnessing those agonising moments can blot out all the memories of so many happy days spent with the people that you love.
© Getty Images"I was extremely lucky because I had the talent, skill and support of my local Oakhaven Hospice. But I was still deprived of any choice over my own death by the current messy criminal law."
Although she knew the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – introduced in Parliament in 2024 but never passed into law – would not come into force in time to help her, she added: "Now I am dead, I am sorry that there is not much more I can do to speed it on its way for the sake of future generations."
Confirming she had become "too physically frail to take the flight" to assisted dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland, she thanked the team, saying: "A combination of my terminal illness and the cruel law frustrated them and me".
Paying tribute to those who had supported the assisted dying campaign, Dame Esther concluded:
"So goodbye and thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in this crucial life and death issue.
"To those who have opposed it and blocked the new Bill, rest assured I will not come back to haunt you, I have better things to do and anyway I believe you too have the right to choose, but not the right to impose your choice on the most vulnerable people such as dying frail little old ladies like me."
"To those who will battle on and continue to support the reform and especially patients and their loved ones who urgently need it, I will do everything I can from here to help you. After all, nobody wants to shorten life, just to shorten death."
Dame Esther's tragic death and vital campaign work
News of the charity campaigner's death was delivered in a statement to PA last month. Her three children said: "We are grateful she is finally at rest with her beloved husband, Desmond Wilcox, but we will miss her immeasurably.
"She was our sunshine. We will always remember her endless capacity for joy, her ability to comfort every heartache, her beautiful way with words and her expert guidance in all things.
"She was the most wonderful mother to us three children and a cherished grandmother to her five treasured grandchildren. We have been so lucky for so long, no matter how much time we had with Mum it could be never be enough, but we are so grateful for our lives together."
© Getty ImagesIn December 2023, Esther revealed that she'd joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland, driven by the fact she didn’t want her family's last memories of her to be "painful”.
The star famously led a petition to force a parliamentary debate on assisted dying. Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
While there is no specific offence of assisted suicide in Scotland, euthanasia is illegal and can be prosecuted as murder or culpable homicide. The latest attempt to legalise it in the United Kingdom recently failed.
Esther's condition sadly progressed to the point that she was unable to travel to Dignitas and get her final wish.
In a statement issued a few weeks before her death, she said: "Unfortunately, when I was strong enough to make the flight and go to Dignitas, my life was not unbearably painful, indeed I was able to relax in my beloved cottage in the New Forest.
"And by the time life did become unbearable, I was too physically fragile to make the journey and go through the Dignitas process. So even though I had spent the money and made the plans, I was not ready to end my life back then, and did not realise that would be my last chance."
In lieu of floral tributes, Dame Esther’s family has asked that anyone who wants to pay tribute to the late broadcaster make donations to her most beloved charities, Oakhaven Hospice, Childline, The Silver Line and Cats Protection in her name.
