BBC presenter Rachael Bland reveals incurable breast cancer

BBC presenter Rachael Bland has been told her breast cancer is “incurable”.

Blogging over at Big C. Little Me, Rachael said her lymph node surgery in February went to plan but the results as ever weren’t good.

“Seven out of 19 nodes removed were positive for cancer – a sign the previous 4 months of chemo hadn’t really cut the mustard.”

Rachael was with her two-year-old son Freddie and his friends at an ice cream farm when she received a call with the results of some biopsies.

“My heart raced as I answered it, knowing a phone call did not bode well.

“Then came the words ‘I am so sorry, it’s bad news. The biopsies have come back showing the same cancer is back and is in the skin’.

“I watched my little Freddie innocently playing away in a tyre in the barn and my heart broke for him.

“I scooped him up and dashed home and then had to break Steve’s (her husband) heart with the news that my cancer was now metastatic and therefore incurable.”

Rachael has been with the BBC for over 15 years. After training as a broadcast journalist, she presented news bulletins on BBC Wiltshire.

She then moved to BBC Radio 5 Live, at first reading the news on Richard Bacon’s show. Bland started to present sports on television, as well as acting as a relief and weekend presenter on the BBC News Channel.

Since BBC Radio 5 Live moved to MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, in 2011, Bland has started to present on BBC North West Tonight as both a newsreader and as the main relief presenter.