// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Esther Rantzen says she is too fragile to travel to Switzerland to end life
Dame Esther Rantzen has said she is now "too physically fragile" to travel to Switzerland to end her life at an assisted suicide clinic.
The veteran broadcaster, 86, said she would have to fly to the country, where the practice is legal, alone, which she could only have done before her life became "unbearable" and before she was ready to end her life.
The Childline founder, who is terminally ill with cancer, first revealed in December 2023 that she had joined the Dignitas clinic.
Dame Esther used her statement on Thursday to reiterate a plea for MPs to vote in favour of legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales when proposed legislation is revisited by Parliament on Friday.
She announced she had joined Dignitas about a year after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
"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," she said.
"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."
Dame Esther added that "everything I didn't want to happen I'm having to go through now", with loved ones either unable to visit her or "see me suffering pain or indignity" when they do.
The prominent assisted suicide campaigner said the law - which she described as "messy and cruel" - must "change and change quickly".