Davina McCall will be 'friends for life' with brain surgeon

Davina McCall says she will be friends for life with the neurosurgeon who removed her benign brain tumour.

The TV presenter, 57, underwent surgery in November after a colloid cyst was found during a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.

She said she chose Kevin O'Neill to perform the operation after a recommendation from actress and model Caprice, a participant on TV show The Jump which McCall presented, whose own brain tumour was found during a scan for concussion.

Speaking to The Times, McCall said of Mr O'Neill: "We're going to be friends for the rest of our lives. We are going to go out to dinner with our partners. We are going to do it."

Discussing their conversation pre-surgery, she said: "The temptation, of course, was to say to him: 'I've got three children. Please, please keep me alive.'

"But that is quite a stress for the surgeon.

"It's an immense pressure and what he needs to know is that I have faith in him.

"I know that he is the best at his job. I know that he wants to do the best for me.

"So I said to him: 'You do whatever you need to do. I put all my faith in you.' He doesn't need me screaming at him to keep me alive.

"He needs to be in the calmest and most confident place. I wanted to empower Kevin to do the best job he could."

Mr O'Neill, 62, said of the former Big Brother host: "Davina is a special person.

"Some people are so terrified they can't make a decision [about what to do when diagnosed]."

Despite his experience, the neurosurgeon said he found the procedure stressful "because she was high profile and her career rests on her memory".

Describing himself as "spiritual", he added: "I prayed in the run-up. And just before, on holiday in Venice, I dropped my glasses and when I went to pick them up, I bent down and saw a card with my birthday printed on it. I saw it as a good sign."

Non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms can include headaches, vision problems and drowsiness, according to the NHS website.

Some can be difficult to remove without damaging surrounding tissue. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy can also be used if the surgery is not successful.

Mother-of-three McCall said that although she was told to expect a good outcome, minor risks of death or losing her short-term memory from the operation meant that she decided to put her affairs in order before the procedure.

"I set up my whole life before I went into the operating theatre knowing that, if I didn't make it, the kids would be OK," she said.

"I needed to go under the anaesthetic knowing I had my ducks in a row.

"It was my way of letting go. And I am so grateful for that process, because I realised through all of it that, if I were not around, my children would be on the right path.

"If this hadn't happened to me, I'd have stayed in 'mum mode'. I love my kids so much, but I looked at them and thought: 'Would they be OK without me?' And the answer was yes, and that made me so proud.

"I've always been a grateful person but this brain operation has supersized my gratitude."

McCall spent time in intensive care before returning home, where she was cared for by family including her partner, celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas.

A longtime advocate of women's health, McCall was given a special recognition award at the National Television Awards last year after having been awarded an MBE in 2023 for services to broadcasting.