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Copied from my Substack This wasn’t exactly how it all started. This was 2017, a good three years into discovering motherhood wouldn’t be as easy as i’d always assumed. I’m the daughter of a midwife, with childbearing hips, who always believed I could decide exactly when and with whom I wanted to get pregnant. But along came the “unexplained infertility” of PCOS (polycystic without the syndrome), the bicornuate uterus (heart-shaped but less cute than it sounds), the month aft

An introduction to who I am, what I do, and why I'm joining the Substack community I've been thinking about how to start this for a while. The truth is, I've spent two decades telling stories — interviewing heads of state, moderating panels at global summits, anchoring breaking news as the world shifted in real time. I've been very comfortable holding the microphone and pointing it at someone else. While I have some experience of turning it on myself, that’s always felt a lit

The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition team has done a fantastic job in launching and leading this campaign!

World Ovarian Cancer Day is Friday, May 8th

#WorldOvarianCancerDay is nearly here... MAY 8th! As the host of "Changing the Ovarian Cancer Story" I am unbelievably privileged to get to speak to patients, advocates, oncologists, policymakers about this lethal disease. I get to hear the stories of hope, loss, love, strength and pain. Now i'm helping with a new campaign called REACH FOR THE SCARS! We're asking anyone affected by ovarian cancer to post a picture of your scars on social media. It could be a physical scar or

Ooof... I wasn't expecting that at 8am on a Tuesday! On entering Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, pre-caffeine, I was hit with a giant version of myself nonchalantly grinning back at... me. Giant Hannah was in fact bigger than actual hannah. She looked confident and poised. I hadn't even put my heels on yet 😬 Turns out, I can switch it on pretty quickly and it was wonderful to be back in the company of the great and good of British Nuclear. In geo-political crises like ours,

Spring has sprung and thank **** for that! I've never thought I was affected by seasonal-affective disorder, but the tail end of this winter really pushed me to my limits. The rain!!! Shwmae 👋 That said, i'm generally always happiest in water, on water, or by water (just maybe not underwater 🤔). A water baby from the off, i'm keen to embrace midlife in as much water as possible... which leaves me deeply predisposed to swimming. Yes folks, i'm in my wild swimming era! Last

Five years ago I kicked off my fabulous forties with a spring in my step. Thirties had been tumultuous and aside from the obvious lovelies of getting married, buying our first home and professional success, that decade was in fact... hard going. I wrestled with my womanhood and how I was to inhabit this body that wasn't doing what every other woman around me seemed to be doing with ease. When the lottery of life eventually did gift me a shot at motherhood, I was sure in my bo

This week i've jumped on another seemingly viral trend and prompted #ChatGPT with the following: "Create a caricature of me and my job based on everything you know about me" Full disclosure - I did this twice, curious to see how far I could curate my own AI outcome. Both times I added three different photos for the image generation. Here's the first: Now, I did add some details about the work that I do - news anchor, podcast host, interviewer, Emmy-nominated journalist - so I

Well hello 2026! Sorry, i've been a bit quiet over the last month. Nothing has been quiet on the personal front but I do like to take some time in a new year to reflect on the past and notice any shift in priorities. Ever since having my life on hold through our IVF years i've come to realise that as my identity shifts with age and life phases, so too do my priorities. That's not to say something that was a priority in 2025 is no longer on the list. Rather that the order of p

to be exhausted! So, December. We've not even hit Xmas yet and like most people, it's already been a MONTH. My son turned six so we had a party to enjoy/endure (thankfully shared with a few others from school); his grand old age mean't I could now "sign him" to his local football club via an official FA form (honestly it felt like my first official "Momager" act); The Year 1 Nativity was a hit, even if they have been rehearsing since the first week in November and I have felt

In the latest podcast episode of "Changing the Ovarian Cancer Story" I spoke to three amazing women about the latest study to come out about the experiences of women with ovarian cancer in low and middle income countries. The #EveryWomanStudyLMIC is the first of its kind to gather extensive data on women with ovarian cancer in this setting. I had the chance to talk to the study lead, Nigeria's country lead, and the editor of The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women's Healt

Last night I braved the cold and headed into London for a David Nott Foundation - Sips & Sutures event. Essentially a chance to see the extraordinary training the Foundation offers medics in conflict zones while sipping on a glass of bubbly. Now, I count myself lucky because it's not my first encounter with this amazing Foundation. The CEO James Gough is a dear friend. We met in a gym in south London many years ago and have since bonded over being married to Welsh folk (Gof

Yesterday's Sunday Times newspaper included an article written by my friend and fellow IVF-er, Gabby Griffith , with a picture of me looking stern and serious under the headline! The piece followed on from a legal case brought by an IVF patient against her private fertility clinic, ARGC, when she suffered a stroke after treatment. Her case centres on the so-called "add-on" treatment she underwent at her clinic's suggestion. I was interviewed by Gabby because in my long journ

I'm the co-host of the above named podcast - a fun project set up by my friend, Tim Gatt . Tim and I used to work together as producers at Sky News. He's now a multiplatform media consultant and has always been a step ahead of the curve (and definitely me) when it comes to Social Media trends. So, a few years ago Tim asked me to co-host a new podcast with him looking at the stories that don't make it to mainstream media but go viral all around the world, with literally milli

In Episode 2 of Changing The Ovarian Cancer Story I got to speak to broadcasting legend, Christiane Amanpour . Christiane revealed she'd been diagnosed with ovarian cancer back in 2021. I remember messaging her at the time, sending my love and good wishes and thanking for her for talking so publicly about something so private. I had the great fortune of working alongside Christiane at CNN - she is an extraordinary journalist. So it was an incredible honour for her to agree t

I was asked to be a guest on the Just Curious podcast by the PR Network a good few months ago... always strange to listen to yourself back several months later! Nicky and George were so kind with their time and the space they gave me to really dive into some meaty parts of my professional and personal life! Ostensibly, I was asked because I am in the community of Folgate Advisors as a communications consultant. It was great to vocalise how transferable the skills are from

Oooh I love Berlin! Just over 24 hours in the German capital is definitely not enough. That said, I am not one to be held back by time constraints and hotfooted it straight into the city to meet a friend for coffee. That friend, Alina, happens to be a McCain Global Leader alumni from the 2024 cohort. I've been on the Advisory Council of the McCain Institute's Global Leadership program (and no it's not "programme" cause it's American y'all) since it's inception in 2021. Alin

I'll admit, I didn't really "get" Open Dialogue before spending a day (World Mental Health day, of all days) in the company of those who practise it, have benefited from it or researched it. On October 10th, psychiatrist Dr Russell Razzaque convened around 300 mental health professionals, service users and the media as a soft launch ahead of the findings of a major mental health model of care trial in England. ODDESSI has been going on for around a decade now. In the next f