Dame Tessa Jowell has been battling brain cancer for the past four months, she and her family have said.
The former Labour culture secretary’s illness was revealed in an Instagram post by Ella Mills, the food blogger and cookbook author Deliciously Ella. She posted a picture of Jowell on her 70th birthday and described the past few months as “some of the hardest of our lives”.
Mills, the daughter of the former MP Shaun Woodward, is married to Jowell’s son Matthew, and posted a family photograph of the pair with her.
In a later statement Jowell said: “I’m in treatment at the moment, but will share more soon, and look forward to finding ways to make better, longer lives for people with cancer.”
She also posted a message to mark her birthday on Twitter, saying she had made a resolution to help people with cancer to live longer and better lives:
Thank you for so much love and support on my birthday. More people living longer better lives with cancer is my birthday pledge pic.twitter.com/VPvvFrwDQS
— Tessa Jowell (@TessaJowell) September 17, 2017
In her Instagram post, Mills said the diagnosis had made the family determined to find new ways of supporting cancer sufferers:
Jowell oversaw the UK’s drive to win the 2012 Olympic games for London while she was culture secretary under Tony Blair. She is one of only a handful of MPs to have served as a minister during the whole of Tony Blair’s and Gordon Brown’s premierships.
She stepped down as MP for Dulwich and West Norwood in 2015 and ran as a candidate for the Labour nomination for mayor of London, but was beaten by Sadiq Khan.
The Brain Tumour Charity’s chief executive, Sarah Lindsell, said Jowell was one of 11,000 people a year diagnosed with the disease. “Our hearts go out to Tessa Jowell and her family after being diagnosed with a high-grade brain tumour,” she said.
“And we applaud her pledge on her 70th birthday to help people whose lives are turned upside down by this devastating disease.”
