HEARTBREAKING: BBC News presenter shares heartbreaking moment she was diagnosed with incurable c@ncer
BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri has been diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a rare blood c@ncer.
Maryam Moshiri appeared on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)
BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri has revealed “it wasn’t so much symptoms, more life” after being diagnosed with a rare blood c@ncer. The broadcaster, who has become a recognisable presence on BBC News since joining the corporation in 2003, recently disclosed she was diagnosed with polycythemia vera in November 2024. Her diagnosis is a rare, treatable blood c@ncer, which, while incurable, can be managed.
According to Cancer Research, the condition affects the bone marrow, where stem cells produce an excess of red blood cells, potentially thickening the blood and increasing the risk of blood clots. Speaking to presenters Ed Balls and Susanna Reid on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, Maryam discussed her diagnosis and the symptoms she experienced. She explained she had been experiencing headaches and exhaustion, continuing: “I had, it wasn’t so much symptoms, it was more life. At that age, as a 46/47-year-old woman, as I was at the time, I didn’t know whether I was a bit tired because I was peri-menopausal or if I was a bit tired because I had three children under the age of 10,” reports the Daily Star.
Maryam spoke to Good Morning Britain hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid (Image: ITV)
“I did suffer from ocular migraines. I remember that specific symptom, which I know is a symptom of PV. But I went to the doctor as a normal woman having six-monthly menopause checks.”
Maryam revealed that her GP became concerned following two blood tests, and she was referred to specialists “extremely quickly”. “Within about eight weeks, I was diagnosed,” she said.
Reflecting on how she pressed on with her career throughout her diagnosis, Maryam said: “I would be in places like Doha covering the Iran war, I went to the Vatican to cover the Papal Conclave, I was in Greenland, I did an 18-hour day in Greenland.
“I think we know as journalists that we work hard, we do shifts, we wake up early, we do night, and there’s that sense that’s been instilled in me over the last 25 years as a broadcaster, ‘just get on with it’.
The presenter recently announced that she was diagnosed with polycythaemia vera in November 2024 (Image: ITV)
“I felt to myself that this is my job, I love it, and wanted to do broadcast news since I was a child. This is my dream job to be a TV news presenter, and I now have that job, so I’m not going to say, if someone calls me and says, ‘We want to send you to Doha tomorrow, can you do it?’ I’m just not going to say no, I’m going to say yes and work it out when I get there. That’s how I lived.”
While discussing her experience of working through her illness, Maryam also revealed that sufferers can endure “horrible” symptoms, as she shared: “Everyone’s journey is different, so what I wanted to really do by coming out with this disease and working and supporting Blood Cancer UK in their campaign is to make sure that people who have this particular illness, it’s very rare, 2.5% of blood c@ncer sufferers in the UK have polycythaemia vera, is to make sure they understand that you can live your life. You will have bad days and good days, you will find your energy levels fluctuating, you will have horrible symptoms.
“I had headaches, I had itching so bad that I was bleeding through to my clothes at work. But, you can get through it. You can carry on with your life, there is hope.”
