By Lauren Haughey,Susan Knox

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Davina McCall has opened up about her initial reluctance to undergo a health screening that eventually led to the discovery of a rare brain tumour. The TV favourite discovered she had a rare 14-mm colloid cyst, which affects only three in every million people, during a chance medical check-up.

Luckily, the tumour was benign and last year, Davina underwent successful surgery by neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill to have it removed. However, speaking on BBC Woman’s Hour, she confessed her overall hesitation to confront personal health issues.

“I don’t need a health check, I’m Davina,” she said last week, reflecting on her view before the ordeal. According to the Mirror, she continued: “I’m healthy, I’m fitness lady, that’s what I’m known for. I felt fantastic, I felt the best I’ve felt in year.”

The medical examination, which was presented as a present after a menopause presentation she delivered, featured a Dexter scan and a mole mapping. Following considerable uncertainty, Davina eventually chose to take the plunge and proceed with her health screening after years of using tanning beds.

“I thought, ‘Oh, well that would be quite useful,'” she recalled. “I was sunbed queen in the 80s… I’m ashamed of that. So I had the health check, and what had flagged up is I heard the word benign.”

Davina highlighted the dangers of so-called ‘benign’ brain tumours as she issued a serious warning to listeners. According to the publication, she continued: “I just want to say to anybody listening, that knows anyone with a benign brain tumour, benign does not mean fine.

“That’s a really important thing to say because benign cysts can be devastating. They can be inoperable, they can kill you. Just because it’s not cancerous doesn’t mean it’s not deadly.”

In April, the celebrity from The Masked Singer confirmed that a ‘final MRI’ scan showed the colloid cyst was ‘not coming back’ after surgery in November 2024. Had the operation not been successful, Davina might have had a stroke or lost her ability to hold a short-term memory for more than five minutes.

Yet, if the cyst had remained undetected, or if Davina had chosen not to have it removed, she could have died ‘suddenly’ without any warning or chance to say goodbye to her family and friends, according to The Times.

During an intensive five-hour surgery, a neurosurgeon cut open her skull ‘from ear to ear’, successfully extracting the 14mm colloid cyst located in the ‘third ventricle’, a deep-seated area of the brain.

Now, having recovered from the operation, the mother-of-three insists it is the ‘best thing’ to ever happen to her. As per The Express, she said previously: “I am not afraid of dying anymore. It was the biggest journey of my life. It was an amazing time.

“I have been on a massive life journey, and I have been through terrible struggles. That is where the learning comes from. If something really hard happens now, I know it is a good thing.”

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