BBC's Maryam Moshiri reveals incurable blood cancer diagnosis — SkimNews
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- Maryam Moshiri, BBC News chief presenter since joining in 2003, revealed she was diagnosed with polycythaemia vera (PV) — a rare, incurable but treatable blood cancer — in November 2024, saying she wanted to speak publicly to raise awareness
- The 49-year-old credits her GP's fastidious routine blood tests for catching the disease; she had mostly no symptoms, and PV causes the body to make excess red blood cells, raising risk of blood clots, stroke, heart attack, or DVT
- Initial treatment required seven or eight hour-long venesections over five months, which crashed Moshiri's iron levels and left her with severe fatigue, hair loss, and full-body itching
- Moshiri later moved to interferon immunotherapy via the NHS and has needed only one venesection in roughly 15 months, saying the last couple of months have been better than the prior two years
- Despite her condition, she has continued anchoring major international stories — including from Qatar at the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, the Vatican for the selection of the new Pope, and Greenland for Vice-President JD Vance's visit
- The mother-of-three (Iris, 13; Vivienne, 11; Caspian, 9) said the disease's fatigue sometimes prevents her from playing with her children or attending family occasions, describing it as having her battery completely removed
Why it matters: A high-profile BBC anchor publicly disclosing that an incurable cancer was caught largely by chance through routine blood work amplifies Blood Cancer UK's warning that the disease is the UK's fifth most common cancer and third biggest cancer killer — often with no clear symptoms. For Moshiri, the revelation reframes a two-year silent health battle fought while anchoring the BBC's biggest international assignments, and adds a public platform to calls for government research funding.
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