The presenter has given her first interview since undergoing life-saving brain surgery
Davina McCall has discussed how she chose to face her mortality head-on
Begin Again podcast
Tina Campbell1 minute ago
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Davina McCall has opened up about the steps she took before undergoing brain surgery in the event that she wouldn’t make it.
The TV presenter, 57, went under the knife last autumn to remove a rare colloid cyst, a condition that doctors warned her could lead to her developing epiliepsy, suffering a stroke, or even sudden death.
She said her first port of call was to have a candid discussion with her partner Michael Douglas and make sure that her will was “airtight”, and penned “letters of wishes” to all three of her grown-up children from a previous relationship.
Speaking for the first time after undergoing the life-saving procedure, she told friend Steven Bartlett on the latest episode of her Begin Again podcast how she chose to face her mortality head-on.
“I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to plan for it if it doesn’t go according to plan’,” she began. “When I’d spoken to the doctors, they talked about things like stroke, epilepsy, these being risks. Nicking an artery or a blood vessel in the brain and having a bleed… so there were a lot of things that could be a risk. And obviously, because of my age, you know, I’m fifty-seven. That was another thing that mattered to me.
“I was thinking, you know,’Would you rather have brain surgery now, or if it grew in eight years’ time, would you want to have it in your mid-to-late sixties? Would it not be better to get it done now while you’re fit and healthy in every other way?’ So yes, we had that talk quite soon. And I did go and address my will and make sure that was airtight. I talked to Michael about my wishes. I wrote letters of wishes to all the children, and put those in my will,” she continued.
“I made sure that when I went to sleep before the operation, I could trust in [neurosurgeon] Kevin [O’Neill] and let go of the outcome. And I really got there, Steven. Like, I really, really went to sleep and thought, ‘Everything will be okay, whatever happens.’ And it felt… it felt like I’d climbed a mountain, but it was a good mountain to climb, you know? Like, I… I really meant it.”
Barlett then probed: “You were at peace?”
To which McCall confirmed: “Hmm.”
Brand new episodes of Begin Again drop Thursdays at 8am GMT wherever you get your podcasts.
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