Lauren Laverne is diagnosed with ‘chronic’ condition after cancer recovery
By Sean O'Grady, Press Assocation Deputy Entertainment Editor
Lauren Laverne has announced she has been diagnosed with a blood and bone marrow disorder nearly two years after recovering from cancer.
The BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs presenter, 48, revealed on Friday that she has smouldering myeloma, a condition characterised by an abnormal level of blood plasma cells in bone marrow.
Writing on Instagram, Laverne wrote: “I’m quite a private person by nature but am sharing this as one of the many things I’ve learned after going through health challenges in recent years is that talking about this stuff helps people.
“I’ve been diagnosed with something called smouldering myeloma (yes that is a weird name and no I’d never heard of it either).
“It’s an asymptomatic blood and bone marrow disorder that in some people can develop into blood cancer.
“Thankfully the risk of this happening in my case is pretty low.”
Laverne said she feels “OK” at the moment and does not currently need treatment.
The presenter also noted the condition has “nothing to do” with her previous illness.
She added: “Most people my age who have it have no idea – it tends to be cancer survivors like me who are diagnosed early as we’re so carefully monitored.
“It is a chronic condition – no cure yet – and it does mean my immune system is a bit compromised, so I will need to take good care of myself and I will be carefully monitored with blood tests, MRIs and bone marrow biopsies (which I have recently discovered are even less fun than they sound).
Laverne made her diagnosis public out of a desire to help others.
She wrote: “It’s been a lot, especially coming less than two years after my last diagnosis, but I know that seeing others in the public eye cope with comparable situations has helped me, so I thought I’d be upfront about it.
“I’ve had some difficult experiences in the last eight years, but I have learned more from them than some people do in a lifetime and that is helping me right now.
“I am so grateful for that.”
She concluded her statement by thanking her family, friends and colleagues, along with her “wonderful” GP for catching the condition early due to her low iron levels.
The broadcaster will take “a couple weeks holiday” before returning to work.
Lauren announced she had been diagnosed with cancer in August 2024.
In November that year, she confirmed she had been given the all-clear after receiving treatment.
The presenter previously said she had “always been anxious” about developing cancer after her mother died from the disease in 2022.
