Lucy Davis, beloved by generations of British comedy fans as Dawn Tinsley from The Office, has told her followers she has incurable stage 4 breast cancer. The 53-year-old actor said the disease has spread to her bones, including her spine, right hip and ribs, and that chemotherapy is no longer an option.
Davis said she was diagnosed a year and a half ago. Sharing the news on Instagram, she wrote that she now intends to make the most of whatever time she has left. “As of now, I’m trying to live out whatever might be left of my life in as fun a way as I possibly can,” she said.
Even in the hardest news, she said she has looked for what she can take from it. “I always like to find the teachable moments in anything negative that happens,” she said. “And cancer has not disappointed in that regard; there’s a lot I have learned from it, and I’m grateful for that.”
She has been open about the physical toll too, describing pain that makes standing and walking difficult at times. “Standing and walking for too long a time can be hard, and I need to use a wheelchair sometimes (so if you see me toddling around in one, feel free to give me a push!),” she said.
Davis, the daughter of comedian Jasper Carrott, said humour has carried her through the diagnosis more than anything else. She has asked those closest to her to keep teasing her rather than tiptoe around the illness. “There’s nothing that will make you feel more unwell than being treated as if you’re unwell,” she said.
Her outlook on what lies ahead is calm rather than fearful. “I’m not scared of whatever comes next. I’m at peace with it,” she said. “I’ll see my Gracie (her late dog) sooner than expected, and for me leaving my physical body just means going home. Any and all grieving is for my family; it’s far harder for them than for me.”
Davis first became a household name playing the receptionist Dawn opposite Ricky Gervais’s David Brent in The Office, a role that made the Slough paper merchant Wernham Hogg one of British television’s most fondly remembered workplaces. She went on to voice Hayley Jordan on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers for close to ten years, appeared alongside Simon Pegg in the 2004 comedy Shaun of the Dead, and later joined the cast of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
She said she plans to keep working for animal rights and hopes to keep acting, calling it one of the biggest joys of her life. For anyone facing a similar diagnosis, her message was simple and generous: “For those of you on a similar journey to mine, I do wish you well. Cancer asks a lot from us, physically and mentally. And we all get to do it however we choose.”
Images: Instagram
