Nicki Chapman has reflected on what she describes as the most frightening chapter of her life, revisiting her brain tumour diagnosis and life-saving surgery in a candid new update that lays bare the shock, fear and perspective it brought.
The Escape to the Country presenter was diagnosed in 2019 with a non-cancerous but potentially life-threatening brain tumour after suddenly developing alarming neurological symptoms. Scans revealed a meningioma — roughly the size of a golf ball — that required urgent surgical intervention.
Now 57, Chapman has revisited the ordeal in her memoir So Tell Me What You Want, where she recounts the moment she was told she would need immediate surgery.
“Receiving that news was, without doubt, the most shocking and frightening experience of my life,” she writes, adding with characteristic honesty that it eclipsed even the most extreme moments of her earlier career.
The former music publicist, who went on to become one of Britain’s most recognisable television figures, underwent surgery later that year. Surgeons were unable to remove the tumour in its entirety, but Chapman has since revealed that the remaining section later disappeared — something doctors reassured her can happen and is not uncommon. She now attends precautionary scans every 18 months.
While careful to clarify that she did not have brain cancer, Chapman has spoken openly about how stark the conversations with doctors were.
“I had a brain tumour. I didn’t have brain cancer — but my surgeon and the NHS had that conversation with me,” she said. “I made my will. Nothing is given.”
The experience, she says, fundamentally altered how she views life. Now an ambassador for the Brain Tumour Charity, Chapman describes a heightened sense of gratitude as the lasting legacy of the ordeal.
“The only thing it really made me do is appreciate everything more,” she explained. “It gives you perspective.”
Speaking recently to The Times, Chapman reflected on the quiet strength she discovered once the initial shock subsided.
“I’ve had an amazing life,” she said. “When the bombshell dropped, I thought, I don’t want to give this life up. But if this is it — how lucky have I been?”
Despite her resilience, she admits the subject remains deeply emotional.
“I don’t really like talking about it,” she said. “It makes me cry.”
The health scare began in May 2019 while Chapman was recovering from knee surgery, when she suddenly developed slurred speech and a loss of vision. Initially, doctors feared she had suffered a stroke before scans revealed the tumour.
Describing the moment of diagnosis, Chapman said the hardest part came when she had to tell her loved ones.
“It’s the shock — and then telling people,” she said. “That’s even more distressing. Ringing your family is hideous.”
Throughout the ordeal, her husband, music producer Dave Shackleton, was a constant presence. The couple, who married in 1999, have been together for more than two decades.
“He’s been amazing,” she said. “In a way, it’s harder for the people who love you.”
Chapman returned to work just six weeks after surgery but has been clear that she does not want her illness to define her. More than four years on, she says she has placed the experience into what she calls a mental “filing cabinet”.
“It will always be there,” she explained. “But I don’t need to keep opening it.”
Instead, she is choosing to focus on the life she fought to keep — with perspective, gratitude and a determination to move forward on her own terms.
