Lauren Laverne reveals blood and bone marrow disorder diagnosis

Radio and TV presenter, who recovered from cancer in 2024, announces she has smouldering myeloma

Lauren Laverne has announced she has been diagnosed with a blood and bone marrow disorder, less than two years after recovering from cancer.

The radio and TV presenter revealed she has smouldering myeloma, a condition characterised by an abnormal level of blood plasma cells in bone marrow, and said she made her diagnosis public out of a desire to help others. In August 2024, she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer, and received the all-clear three months later.

Laverne, 48, wrote on Instagram on Friday: “I’m quite a private person by nature, but am sharing this as one of the many things I’ve learned after going through health challenges in recent years is that talking about this stuff helps people.

“I’ve been diagnosed with something called smouldering myeloma (yes that is a weird name and no I’d never heard of it either). It’s an asymptomatic blood and bone marrow disorder that in some people can develop into blood cancer.

“Thankfully the risk of this happening in my case is pretty low.”

Laverne said she did not currently need treatment, adding the condition had “nothing to do” with her previous illness. She said: “Most people my age who have it have no idea – it tends to be cancer survivors like me who are diagnosed early, as we’re so carefully monitored.

“It is a chronic condition – no cure yet – and it does mean my immune system is a bit compromised, so I will need to take good care of myself and I will be carefully monitored with blood tests, MRIs and bone marrow biopsies (which I have recently discovered are even less fun than they sound).”

The broadcaster said she would take a “couple weeks holiday” before returning to work. Laverne, who was the lead singer of the alternative rock band Kenickie in the 90s, has been a BBC Radio 6 Music presenter since 2008 and has hosted Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs since 2018. She has also co-presented The One Show since 2023.

She wrote: “It’s been a lot, especially coming less than two years after my last diagnosis, but I know that seeing others in the public eye cope with comparable situations has helped me, so I thought I’d be upfront about it.

“I’ve had some difficult experiences in the last eight years, but I have learned more from them than some people do in a lifetime and that is helping me right now.

Laverne thanked her family, friends and colleagues along with her “wonderful” GP for detecting the condition early due to her low iron levels.

The charity Blood Cancer UK said in a statement: “There are more than 53,000 people across the UK on active monitoring for different blood cancers, including smouldering myeloma, so nobody should feel they are facing this alone.

“If Lauren’s story has prompted questions or concerns about smouldering myeloma or any type of blood cancer, we’re here for you. Our specialist nurses provide free, confidential support and information, helping people understand their diagnosis, make sense of active monitoring and find answers to any questions they may have.”