Hannah Fry has spoken about her cancer treatment (Image: BBC)Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeProfessor Hannah Fry, the 40 year old academic and TV presenter who is guest presenting on Have I Got News For You, has opened up about her battle with a little-known condition that requires daily lifelong management. The star was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 36 in 2021, which led to her undergoing a radical hysterectomy. This operation resulted in her developing lymphoedema, a condition that causes swelling in the body’s tissues and can affect any part of the body, but usually develops in the arms or legs. At the time of her diagnosis, Hannah had two young daughters and admitted that thinking about not being there for them was the “hardest thing.”
Hannah made a BBC documentary called Making Sense of Cancer about her battle
(Image: BBC)
She also revealed that she had been warned that lymphoedema was a potential side-effect of her operation. Hannah received a cervical cancer diagnosis following a routine smear test and biopsy, which revealed a tumour the size of a gobstopper. In her BBC documentary, she described the day as a “total out-of-body experience”. She said: “Really honestly, when you’re in that position – it doesn’t matter whether you have a PhD in mathematics or you dropped out of school aged 12: every single person is just frightened about their future, thinking about their family and the people that they love,” reports Birmingham Live. After the diagnosis, Hannah was told to wait for scans to determine if the cancer had spread, but the results were unclear. She was advised to undergo a radical hysterectomy, removing her uterus and pelvic lymph nodes. Post-surgery, she learned that four or five of her lymph nodes were swollen, indicating the cancer had reached the lymphatic system. “I was in there like: ‘Right, game over: it’s done,'” she added. Due to coronavirus, Hannah was alone in the hospital, but fortunately, scans two weeks later showed the surgery had been successful. Sign up to OK!’s TV newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
Ian Hislop has been on Have I Got News For You since the show started
(Image: BBC)
Hannah returns to Have I Got News For You, alongside team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, on Friday 18 October, having twice appeared as a panellist and twice as the host of the show. In an interview with The Institute of Mathematics earlier this year, she spoke about appearing on the show, saying it was “quite stressful.” She added: “I think I’ve worked out how to do Have I Got News for You now so that I can actually enjoy it. I think that if you can get yourself into a state where you just see these events as though you are in a much lower pressure environment and can relax into them then they can be great fun.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnIn the News
