BBC news anchor Maryam Moshiri has shared her experience navigating life with polycythaemia vera (PV), a rare and incurable blood cancer, since her diagnosis in November 2024. Moshiri, who joined the BBC in 2003, described the condition, which causes bone marrow to overproduce red blood cells leading to thickened blood, as a chronic illness that is managed rather than cured.
She revealed in recent interviews that while she is often determined to "get on with it," there are times when she experiences profound exhaustion, likening the feeling to her "battery has been taken out." Moshiri, a mother of three, stated that she manages the illness day by day, hunkering down during difficult periods and focusing on recovery.
Around 15,000 people in the UK live with polycythaemia vera. Moshiri, 49, considers herself fortunate that her condition was detected early by her GP during a routine blood test for perimenopause about two years prior to her diagnosis. She initially attributed some symptoms, such as tiredness and headaches, to perimenopause.
Following her diagnosis, Moshiri underwent immunotherapy treatment, which she described as "gruelling." Side effects included insomnia, headaches, and intense itching that sometimes led to bleeding. She noted that the demanding schedule of a broadcast journalist, involving early starts and late finishes, has instilled a resilience that helps her manage her condition. "I've wanted to do broadcast news since I was a child," she said. "It was my dream job to be a TV news presenter. I now have that job, so if someone calls me and says: 'We want to send you to Doha tomorrow, can you do it?' I'm not going to say no."
Moshiri continued to work after her diagnosis, even traveling to Rome in April 2025 to cover the death of Pope Francis and the subsequent conclave. She spoke of working 14-hour days while experiencing chronic tiredness and fatigue. She emphasized that she does not want her diagnosis to impede her career, stating that a significant aspect of managing the disease involves "having to get on with life."
Initially, her treatment involved having more than a pint of blood drawn monthly to reduce red blood cell concentration, a process that left her feeling sick and exhausted. Later, she switched to a different immunotherapy drug, interferon, at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS trust, which helped reduce the need for blood draws but still presented challenging side effects. Aspirin is also a standard treatment to mitigate clot risk. Moshiri recounted difficult periods during treatment where she was too fatigued to engage with her children.
She is now supporting the Blood Cancer UK campaign "Here for This," which aims to highlight the moments that cancer sufferers can miss due to their illness. Moshiri is adapting to a lifestyle that incorporates regular hospital appointments and medication, but remains committed to her journalistic career.