Therapy, noisy kids and Strictly: Lauren Laverne on the tools that helped her cope with her cancer diagnosis

When Lauren Laverne got the all-clear after treatment for cancer last year, she shared a heartfelt message on Instagram thanking the medical teams who cared for her, as well as the thousands of people who sent her encouraging messages. Now, in an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, she’s opened up about some of the other tools that helped her cope with her cancer diagnosis – including therapy, noisy kids and Strictly.

“I just wanted to get home to watch Strictly with the kids,” she says of what kept her positive during her medical treatment. When she did finally return home - after multiple surgeries and an extended spell in hospital - she did so, she explained, with a greater appreciation of the normality of it all...even the noise of her kids.

“As soon as I was well enough to enjoy it, which took a little while, I really liked being home,” she says. “I liked the kind of peace of it and being present for the family and just watching them. The noise of the kids – hearing them on a call with their friends, my eldest playing his music or them running in to tell you something. The music of family life was so lovely.’

When Lauren initially received her diagnosis, one of the first people she got in touch with was a therapist - and she revealed that her support has been vital.

“One of the lucky things in my life is that I’ve had therapy,” she says. “And so when I got my diagnosis, she [the therapist] was one of the first people I spoke to. She gave really practical help about how to tell the kids and how to manage my anxiety until I knew where I stood and what was happening.”

Lauren was admitted into hospital swiftly for surgery, with her husband, Graeme, visiting daily and Myleene Klass, Lauren’s oldest friend filling any childcare gaps.

“Myleene has been unbelievable”, says Lauren. “Obviously, she knew, from the day I initially had the test. And because she’s godmother to my kids, she just instantly scooped them up. And our littlest spent a lot of time with her throughout.”

Just as she said in her Instagram post last November, Lauren has also been comforted by the supportive messages from her listeners, having received tens of thousands of comments, messages and letters of support during her illness.

“The relationship one has with a radio audience member is uniquely intimate,” she says. “It’s also reciprocal. I mean, me and our listeners, we’ve gone through a lot of things together.

“I was sent a holy medal from a lady in Ireland and a healing Indian herbal tea from another listener. PJ Harvey sent a letter. And that’s the mad thing with radio – you’re kind of sitting there in a room talking to yourself on one level. You don’t know how far your voice reaches.”

Ultimately, Lauren's diagnosis and recovery hasn’t brought on some urge to to swim with dolphins or hike the Inca trail. Rather, she’d simply like more of the same.

"When I was ill with cancer, the only thing I wanted to do was to get well enough to be home with the kids watching telly. All I want now is more of those things,” she says.

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s May issue, on sale now.

Lauren presents on BBC Radio 6 Music (weekdays, 10am-1pm) and hosts Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds (Sundays, 10-11am).