Astrologer Russell Grant admits he was ‘in denial’ after being diagnosed with a brain tumor

Astrologer Russell Grant has admitted he was “in denial” after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, while praising the surgeon who encouraged him to undergo a major invasive operation.

The 71-year-old TV personality and Strictly star underwent a six-hour invasive procedure to remove a tumor on his pituitary gland shortly before Christmas.

She underwent the procedure to remove the lump from her pituitary gland after doctors said it threatened to blank her optic nerve.

But Grant has revealed how he was “so scared” before the procedure, adding that he was full of gratitude for the medical team that completed the operation.

He said Mirror: ‘I was in denial. She was so scared. So one day I had a Zoom call with my neurosurgeon, Professor Omar Pathmanaban. He was lovely, so reassuring.

“But what culminated in it was that he then said: ‘It would be an honor and a privilege to remove your tumor… when I was a child, my mother and I used to watch you every morning on TV at breakfast. I was late for school.”‘

Grant was instructed not to sneeze or blow his nose for the next six months in an attempt to avoid complications from the surgery.

He recalled how a lecture at the Northern Lights astrological society in Blackpool in December 2019 led him to believe he would face “serious challenges”.

Within a week, her mother suffered a stroke, before Covid began to spread across the UK three months later and a brain tumor began to develop.

His mother moved into a nursing home near the family estate in Watford, before dying aged 93 in January 2021.

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant said his mother was holding her granddaughter Joanna’s hand at the time of her passing.

Recalling her death, Grant said: ‘I went into a great grief. It was terrible. I felt guilty, I felt that I had let her down, even though I had been taking care of her since the 1970s, but in the end she wasn’t there.’

He subsequently dropped from 21st to 15th in the months that followed, before tests showed his body was devoid of the stress hormone cortisone.

Grant was reluctant to have an MRI, but a scan revealed that a tumor was pressing against his optic nerve.

Without a major procedure, she was told she could lose her sight.

Initially reluctant, singer and friend Russell Watson, who underwent the same surgery in 2006, urged Grant to have the operation immediately.

The astrologer chose the date of his surgery based on his birth charts, choosing November 24.

Describing life since the surgery, she added: “It reminded me that every day is precious and that every day I need to do something that is important, not just for me but for the rest of the world.”

‘Things are brighter for me, but still not quite right. But they say it will be a recovery period of six months.