Davina McCall will be 'friends for life' with brain surgeon

Davina McCall says she volition beryllium friends for beingness with the neurosurgeon who removed her benign encephalon tumour.

The TV presenter, 57, underwent country successful November aft a colloid cyst was recovered during a wellness check-up arsenic portion of her menopause advocacy work.

She said she chose Kevin O'Neill to execute the cognition aft a proposal from histrion and exemplary Caprice, a subordinate connected TV amusement The Jump which McCall presented, whose ain encephalon tumour was recovered during a scan for concussion.

Speaking to The Times, McCall said of Mr O'Neill: "We're going to beryllium friends for the remainder of our lives. We are going to spell retired to meal with our partners. We are going to bash it."

Discussing their speech pre-surgery, she said: "The temptation, of course, was to accidental to him: 'I've got 3 children. Please, delight support maine alive.'

"But that is rather a accent for the surgeon.

"It's an immense unit and what helium needs to cognize is that I person religion successful him.

"I cognize that helium is the champion astatine his job. I cognize that helium wants to bash the champion for me.

"So I said to him: 'You bash immoderate you request to do. I enactment each my religion successful you.' He doesn't request maine screaming astatine him to support maine alive.

"He needs to beryllium successful the calmest and astir assured place. I wanted to empower Kevin to bash the champion occupation helium could."

Mr O'Neill, 62, said of the erstwhile Big Brother host: "Davina is simply a peculiar person.

"Some radical are truthful terrified they can't marque a determination [about what to bash erstwhile diagnosed]."

Despite his experience, the neurosurgeon said helium recovered the process stressful "because she was precocious illustration and her vocation rests connected her memory".

Describing himself arsenic "spiritual", helium added: "I prayed successful the run-up. And conscionable before, connected vacation successful Venice, I dropped my glasses and erstwhile I went to prime them up, I bent down and saw a paper with my day printed connected it. I saw it arsenic a bully sign."

Non-cancerous encephalon tumours are much communal successful radical implicit the property of 50, and symptoms tin see headaches, imaginativeness problems and drowsiness, according to the NHS website.

Some tin beryllium hard to region without damaging surrounding tissue. Chemotherapy oregon radiotherapy tin besides beryllium utilized if the country is not successful.

Mother-of-three McCall said that though she was told to expect a bully outcome, insignificant risks of decease oregon losing her short-term representation from the cognition meant that she decided to enactment her affairs successful bid earlier the procedure.

"I acceptable up my full beingness earlier I went into the operating theatre knowing that, if I didn't marque it, the kids would beryllium OK," she said.

"I needed to spell nether the anaesthetic knowing I had my ducks successful a row.

"It was my mode of letting go. And I americium truthful grateful for that process, due to the fact that I realised done each of it that, if I were not around, my children would beryllium connected the close path.

"If this hadn't happened to me, I'd person stayed successful 'mum mode'. I emotion my kids truthful much, but I looked astatine them and thought: 'Would they beryllium OK without me?' And the reply was yes, and that made maine truthful proud.

"I've ever been a grateful idiosyncratic but this encephalon cognition has supersized my gratitude."

McCall spent clip successful intensive attraction before returning home, wherever she was cared for by household including her partner, personage hairdresser Michael Douglas.

A longtime advocator of women's health, McCall was fixed a peculiar designation grant astatine the National Television Awards past twelvemonth aft having been awarded an MBE successful 2023 for services to broadcasting.