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Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl has praised the cancer care she received at the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) and said surgeon Theodora (Dora) Pissanou saved her life.
Katie, 47, (pictured above left) from north London, reports on the Royal Family for broadcasters including the BBC, Good Morning Britain and Sky News.
Now the royal commentator is going public about her cancer journey in a bid to raise awareness and encourage others to seek help as early as possible.
Katie, whose children are 12 and seven, was diagnosed with a type of liver cancer (cholangocarcinoma) in early 2023. She underwent an 11-hour operation to remove the tumour and part of her liver in February that year.
Katie said: “I’ve decided to talk about my cancer because I was extremely lucky to get a relatively early diagnosis. I’ve always been healthy and never saw the GP unless I was taking my children. But I decided to pay him a visit because unusually for me I was feeling run down.
“I had blood tests but there were no cancer markers. I was also experiencing indigestion and heart palpitations and because of cardiac-related family history the GP decided to book me in for a scan. The radiologist then said they had spotted something in my liver that they didn’t like at all. An MRI confirmed I had cholangocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer of the bile duct.
Just ten days later Katie was operated on at the RFH. Katie’s heptobiliary surgeon, Dora, not only removed extensive parts of Katie’s liver but she also took the decision to remove a significant number of lymph nodes, as a preventative measure.
Ten weeks after surgery Katie was back at work reporting on the King’s Coronation, for US broadcaster NBC, while simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy.
Katie said: “I’m very resilient and I was determined to get back to the job I love.”
She added: “I have been taking care of my body and soul and can honestly say that I now feel better than I ever have before. I want to share my story because cancers are affecting people younger and younger. I want to urge people to keep on pushing for answers if you don’t feel right. I exercised and ate healthily, hardly touched alcohol and wasn’t a smoker but I still ended up with cancer.”
Katie admitted it was a shock to hear about the King and the Princess of Wales’s cancers so soon after her treatment was completed.
She said: “My chemotherapy finished in September 2023 and a few months later came the announcements about the royals so although it was hard for me to be reporting on something I was so personally aware of, it made it even more important to me to do so.”
Katie added: “Dora is an absolute gem, without a doubt she saved my life and I would like to thank everyone at the Royal Free Hospital for the brilliant care I received. I’m now supporting the work of AMMF, the UK’s only cholangiocarcinoma charity and I’m in training to run the Hackney half marathon for Maggie’s in May.”
Dora (pictured above right) said: “Katie’s surgery was not straightforward due to the large size of the tumour and its invasiveness. I was happy I was able to remove it all and by also taking out the lymph nodes I stopped the potential channel for it to spread more widely.
“When you perform an operation you take on your shoulders the whole family, not only the patient. It is important for everyone in the family to be on board with what I am doing so they can support the patient best. I take a lot of time to explain the operation and how life might be affected afterwards. I make it clear that we will all work together.
She added: “I’m very proud to be part of the liver team at the Royal Free London, where we are always striving to improve patient outcomes. Personally, I’d like to thank cancer nurse specialist, Karthi Balachandran, for her thorough pre-assessment of patients prior to surgery. I’d also like to mention Sally Harrison, who was the anaesthetist in Katie’s operation.
"Sadly, we are seeing a lot of younger people present with cholangiocarcinoma. Fifteen years ago intrahepatic choloangiocarcinoma was a rare disease but now we see it more and often in younger people. I hope research will help us understand why this is happening.”
Katie's story also features in the Daily Mail.
(Left hand image supplied by Katie Nicholl)
