SAD NEWS: BBC Star Shares Heartbreaking Health Update After Brain Tumour Diagnosis
Escape to the Country star Nicki Chapman has opened up about her health woes.
BBC’s Nicki Chapman has shared a heartbreaking health update (Image: BBC)
Escape to the Country star Nicki Chapman has shared a heartbreaking health update as she has revealed she is struggling to read after she underwent brain surgery. The beloved BBC presenter, 59, underwent a gruelling four-and-a-half-hour operation to remove a golf ball-sized benign tumour in 2019. While the procedure proved successful, Nicki has now been left unable to absorb and retain information as effectively as before.
Appearing on the latest episode of comedian Tom Price’s My Mate Bought a Toaster podcast, she admitted: “Sadly, I struggle with reading now. I can read, obviously, but my concentration is gone. I had a brain tumour, and I don’t know whether it’s age or anything, but my attention span has gone when I read. I can read, but I have to really concentrate.” Nicki said: “I have to learn my scripts, I just find everything takes a little bit longer. Learning my lines takes longer, retaining information takes a little bit longer.”
Nicki Chapman opened up about her health battles (Image: Instagram)
She said her struggles to retain information compared to before her operation are a “small price to pay” to still be alive. Back in March 2019, Nicki first noticed sudden symptoms of her tumour when her vision began to change. She continued: “I couldn’t seem to move my eyes across a line of words to read them on my computer. And I struggled to type a response to emails.”
She also suffered memory issues, as she said: “I went to do a voice-over for Escape To The Country, and I couldn’t remember the name of John, the executive producer. I’ve known him for 15 years. I had to look it up on my phone. Then I realised my speech was subtly affected. I was talking about a holiday we’d just had in Dubai. I could see the word Dubai in my mind, but I struggled to say it. I told myself it must be the menopause.”
After undergoing hospital tests, Nicki was later told that she had a golf ball-sized benign brain tumour on the back, left-hand side of her head “for years”. Nicki was also informed that surgeons needed to operate “quite soon” on the tumour as it was “pressing on my brain”.
Nicki said at the time, “The NHS care I’ve had at the Charing Cross Hospital in London has been first class. Amazing. And I’ve found an inner strength. “My mum said, ‘I’m a tough old bird, and you’re like me, Nicki.'”
