Antiques Roadshow Star Dies at 39

Theo Burrell, a ceramics expert who became a familiar face on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, has died at 39, four years after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. Her team announced on Instagram that she died peacefully on Wednesday, saying neither she nor her doctors expected her decline to come so quickly, per People. Burrell, who joined the show in 2018 and worked with Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull, was diagnosed in 2022 with incurable glioblastoma and given 12 to 18 months to live.

Burrell went on to use her prognosis to press for more government funding of cancer research, appearing in a UK health department video this March and later becoming a patron of the Brain Tumour Research charity. Burrell endured brain surgery and 17 rounds of chemo and said she could accept her fate if it meant better outcomes for future patients. The BBC notes there's been no substantial movement in treatment options for glioblastoma in 20 years.

Despite her diagnosis, she lived to see her son's first day of school and married longtime partner Alex in March, writing that it "feels so nice to be husband and wife." Her team's Instagram post said she wanted others to find "hope in her story," with Brain Tumor Research's chief executive praising her as "phenomenal, determined, and truly inspiring."