This Morning's Deidre Saunders' final heartbreaking moments with husband before his sudden death

Tue Oct 01 21:04:16 IST 2024

This Morning's Deirdre Sanders tragically lost her beloved husband mere days before she was awarded her MBE - and remembered how he had time to tease her about the honour before his passing.

Through her work as a prominent agony aunt, Deirdre has helped countless people through some of the darkest periods of their lives, dispensing plenty of hard-won wisdom from the iconic This Morning sofa. And she's also been very open about some of the ups and downs of her own life - including her battle with breast cancer.

Today, the 78-year-old revealed that her breast cancer had returned, looking on the bright side as she reflected she was 'lucky' it had been caught early. Last year, bereaved Deirdre also opened up about the sad death of her husband of 55 years, Rick Sanders, and their 'bittersweet' final moments together.

In January 2023, Deirdre spoke with former hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about Rick's death in the lead-up to Christmas - and how he'd narrowly missed out on seeing her awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for 2023.

After being congratulated for the honour, which recognised her services to charity and those struggling with mental health issues, Deirdre agreed with Phillip's assertion that it had been 'a nice bright light in quite a sad time for you'.

Shedding some light on her late husband's sense of humour, Deirdre revealed that he had been aware of her achievement, and had even joked with her about it in the days before his death. She reflected: “It's been very much a rollercoaster with losing my husband. But he did know about the MBE before he died, so that was lovely. He could tease me about it.”

Offering his condolences, Phillip said: “We’re very sorry and we’re glad you’re here,” to which she thanked him and said it felt good to be back at work." Deirdre first announced her bereavement on a video call to the programme at the start of 2023, during a separate chat with hosts Andi Peters and Josie Gibson.

She said: “A special thing for me was, a lot of you know my husband died just before Christmas on December 16. But this call came through about a week before he died so that was really special. I could share it with him and say what had happened.

“I was with Rick for 55 years, so that was really great. He was always a great tease so he had to get in a few digs first. But he did the next day tell my daughter and tell me just how proud he was, so that made it extra, extra special.”

She continued: “It was lovely that we could share that, I think had he died before I got that news, it would have always just been a bittersweet thing so it’s lovely that we could share that.”

As per his obituary, which was published in The Guardian, Rick was a man of many talents. A celebrated journalist, Rick focused on rock music in the '60s and '70s, and published the very first biography of Pink Floyd in 1976. He then turned his attention to travel writing, including for the Sunday Times.

Writing aside, Rick was also a gifted musician in his own right and was a founding member of the poetry-music band the Occasional Word. Rick and Deirdre met in 1966 and tied the knot in 1969. Sharing a passion for travel, the adventurous pair spent the year 1971 hitchhiking throughout South America together. They went on to welcome daughters, Susie and Phoebe, and two grandchildren.

The year 2022 had already proved to be a challenging one for agony aunt Deirdre, who opened up that September about her breast cancer diagnosis. A month later she returned to the show and confirmed she was ‘really good’ as she continued treatment. She told the hosts at the time: “I’m really good, so I had this teeny, tiny cancer, which was spotted on a mammogram, I’ve had surgery, it’s all out, it’s gone.”

Today (October 1), Deirdre revealed that her breast cancer has returned, telling viewers: "Unfortunately, I've got to have a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy. I feel lucky, it's been caught early and the treatment is happening very rapidly."

"This is all on the NHS so I think I am so lucky. It could be so much worse. To be honest, the symptoms I had the first time were a coincidence and not actually a symptom of the cancer as it turns out. An efficient GP put me on the cancer pathway and I got a very rapid check and treatment.

"I've felt well, I haven't felt tired or run down. I couldn't feel anything, it's very tiny so there's nothing to feel. It's purely down to the mammogram which showed it up. I had an ultrasound and a biopsy and it revealed it was cancer."

Admitting that she was 'shocked', by the diagnosis, Deirdre clarified that she felt fine, and proceeded to urge women to ensure they request their mammograms. Currently, the NHS stops offering women mammograms once they're over the age of 70, however, these can be requested.

Deirdre continued: "I happened to be in a cohort of women who got missed and we didn't get called. I hadn't had a mammogram since I was 67, so ten years had gone by. I didn't give it a thought.

"I didn't know anything about it. But what I do now know is that when you're over 70, you can request a mammogram on the NHS and you should get one every year. Please, if you're a woman over 70, request your mammogram. The reason I've had an easy time this time and last time is because it was caught so early."

For more information or support about cancer, you can contact Macmillan Cancer Support or you can call 020 7940 1760 for advice.

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1 and ITV Hub. Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Threads.

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