In November 2024, BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri learned she had polycythaemia vera, a rare blood cancer that will accompany her for the rest of her life but need not end it. Caught early by an attentive GP, the condition belongs to that particular category of human burden — chronic, manageable, and quietly redefining — that asks not whether one will survive, but how one will continue. By speaking publicly about her diagnosis, Moshiri transforms a private reckoning into a shared resource, offering those who face similar news a clearer sense of what such a life can still hold.
BBC presenter Maryam Moshiri opens up about living with chronic blood cancer
Moshiri lives with a chronic blood cancer diagnosis that will require lifelong management, though she maintains a positive outlook about her future.