I’ll fight for assisted dying from beyond the grave, Esther Rantzen said in final note

Dame Esther Rantzen’s family has shared a final note in which she urged supporters to continue campaigning for assisted dying reform. The broadcaster and Childline founder said the law had left her without a choice over her own death, and pledged to help campaigners “from here” after her death.

Rantzen died at home in the New Forest last month, aged 86, following a three-year battle with stage four lung cancer. She said assisted dying would not necessarily have changed her decision, but could have brought hope and reassurance to her final weeks and spared her family some suffering. She was too frail to travel to a clinic in Switzerland; her family held a private funeral last week, with a memorial service planned for a later date.