Hannah Fry feared ‘horrific end of my existence’ after cancer diagnosis

Detailed summary

The mathematician and broadcaster, 42, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2020.

Hannah Fry has recalled fearing the “sheer terrifying drop of the end of my existence” after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.

The mathematician and broadcaster, 42, recently competed on the second season of The Celebrity Traitors, but was banished after being exposed as a Traitor in the fourth episode.

She has now detailed being diagnosed with cervical cancer six years ago.

In 2020, Fry delayed a cervical screening exam for months, but once she eventually did it, was told cancerous cells had been discovered.

Speaking on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, she told host Lauren Laverne: “The results didn’t come back for a few weeks and then I got a call from my GP telling me they needed me to come back and do another test and they did a biopsy.

“I was trying hard not to panic but when they found it was in the lymphatic system… that was when it really started to come down.”

Although it was not clear “how bad it was at that point”, Fry was told that her chances of survival were dependant on the cells not having spread to her lymph nodes.

“It’s all about basically how far into your lymphatic system has it got. If it had not got into any lymph nodes, then the odds were in my favour and I had a really good chance of survival,” she said.

“But if it was in one it would drop to a 60% chance of survival and two – the odds would go against me and it would be a 40% chance of survival. Any more and you are really seriously in trouble.”

Opening of the article, excerpted from Evening Standard. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.