Rachael Rebecca Bland (née Hodges; 21 January 1978 – 5 September 2018) was a British journalist and presenter from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. She worked for

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

and ''

BBC North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' (known as ''BBC North West Today'' during daytime) is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme broadcasts from the BBC's ...

''. She was known for her podcast, '' You, Me and the Big C'', which was broadcast while she was ill with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, and in which she discussed issues and treatment of the disease. In the final months of her life she wrote a memoir, ''For Freddie'', which was published posthumously early the following year.

Career

Bland was born in

Creigiau Creigiau is a dormitory settlement in the north-west of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The village currently has about 1,500 houses and a population of approximately 5,000 people. Prior to 2022 The Cardiff electoral ward covering the village w ...

. She started her career presenting news bulletins with the

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 39 stations. As of December 2024, the network broadcasts to a combined audience of 7.1 mil ...

station

BBC Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon. According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly au ...

. She then moved to BBC Radio 5 Live, at first reading the news on Richard Bacon's show, where she became the straight talking foil to Bacon on The Special Half Hour Club. Bland then started to present sports on television, as well as acting as a relief and weekend presenter on the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

and

. When BBC Radio 5 Live moved to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it faces Trafford across the canal. History Built by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, Sal ...

in 2011, Bland started to present on ''

'' as both a newsreader and as the main relief presenter.

Personal life

In September 2013, she married BBC Radio 5 Live producer Steve Bland. They had a son together, Freddie. Bland competed as a

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

, including the 2010

London Triathlon The London Triathlon (currently known as the "AJ Bell London Triathlon", and previously the ''Virgin Active London Triathlon'', ''Mazda London Triathlon'' and the ''Michelob ULTRA London Triathlon'', for sponsorship reasons) is an annual triathlo ...

, raising funds for

Breast Cancer Care Breast Cancer Care is the only specialist UK-wide charity in the UK providing care, support and information to anyone affected by breast cancer. The charity's headquarters are in London, with additional offices in Sheffield, Cardiff, and Glasgow. ...

. She completed the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

several times.

Illness

Bland was diagnosed with

triple-negative breast cancer Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is any breast cancer that either lacks or shows low levels of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression and/or gene amplification (i.e ...

in November 2016. In the early stages of her condition, she continued to present Radio 5 Live, saying she would rather be known as "Rachael the news presenter" than "Rachael the cancer patient". She received criticism by

Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and ...

s who accused her of "not fighting cancer hard enough". Following the diagnosis, Bland started presenting the BBC

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

'' You, Me and the Big C'' to raise awareness of cancer, discussing the disease with celebrities and providing advice of how to manage it. The podcast featured fellow cancer patients Deborah James and

Lauren Mahon Lauren Stacey Mahon (born 2 May 1985) is a British cancer activist and founder of Girls vs Cancer, an online community raising awareness and supporting cancer patients. She was named in the BBC ''100 Women'' in 2019. Life and career Mahon was ...

and became popular for its discussion of cancer, with medical experts regularly appearing on the programme. It featured the trio's

self-deprecating humour Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modesty, modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may ...

to cope with their situation; when Bland announced she was unsure that she would survive to the end of the series, James retorted, "Shut up, Rachael, stop being so over-dramatic." In early 2018, she participated in a clinical trial of experimental treatment at the

Christie Hospital The Christie, formerly known as Christie Hospital and The Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, is a specialist National Health Service, National Health Service (NHS) single site cancer centre in Manchester, United Kingdom. The hospital is ...

, Manchester, that she hoped would prevent or postpone the cancer. This was unsuccessful, and in May, she announced that her cancer had spread and was now incurable. She hoped that clinical treatment would still be available so she could live longer. She continued to blog and run ''You, Me and the Big C'', and hoped that she could do enough to give her son memories of her life. Towards the end of her life, she announced she had written her memoirs, which she hoped would be published some day. In June, a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

site was set up in order to allow her to have a family holiday while she still could.

Death and legacy

In August 2018, Bland announced that she had less than a year to live. On 3 September, she announced on her

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account that her "time had come", and that she only had days left. She died two days later at the age of 40 at her home in

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

surrounded by her family. ''You, Me and the Big C'' reached number one on the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Podcast charts during this week. Family and colleagues paid her tribute including Dan Walker,

Dame Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. ...

, former

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

and Busted's

Charlie Simpson Charles Robert Simpson (born 7 June 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician from Suffolk. He is a member of the pop punk band Busted (band), Busted and the rock band Fightstar. AllMusic has noted that Simpson is "perhaps the only p ...

. Health secretary

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...

said, "Her legacy is a testament to how much more we need to do to beat this dreadful disease." Her co-hosts continued the ''You, Me and the Big C'' podcast. On 21 February 2019, her memoir ''For Freddie'' (which is dedicated to her son) was published. On 28 June 2019 American rock band

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

dedicated their song "

A Dustland Fairytale "A Dustland Fairytale" is a song by American rock band The Killers, released as the fourth single from the band's third studio album, ''Day & Age'' (2008). The Killers performed the song live on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' accompanied ...

" to Bland, while in concert at

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, Rachael 1978 births 2018 deaths 21st-century Welsh journalists 21st-century British women journalists 21st-century Welsh memoirists 21st-century Welsh women writers Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire Alumni of the University of Wales Deaths from breast cancer in England Journalists from Cardiff BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC North West newsreaders and journalists Welsh female triathletes Welsh female marathon runners British female marathon runners Mass media people from Cardiff Deaths from cancer in England British women television journalists British women radio presenters British women podcasters British podcasters Sportspeople from Cardiff British women memoirists