Nicki Chapman shared a health update from hospital on Sunday after undergoing a fourth operation on her foot to treat a long-standing ankle condition.
The 59-year-old Escape to the Country presenter posted a photograph on Instagram showing herself giving a thumbs-up from her hospital bed while pointing to her right leg, which was encased in a surgical boot.
She also shared a second photograph taken while she was out and about in London, smiling as she used a walking stick to assist her movement following the procedure.
Chapman said she was thankful that each surgical procedure helps keep her moving without pain. She has suffered from problems with her ankle since she was 15 years old, when she was diagnosed with ankle spurs, and she previously underwent a second operation in 2015 and a third in 2017.
Nicki Chapman's Instagram recovery update
Writing alongside the photographs on Instagram, the broadcaster described her steady progress after leaving hospital. "Every little step," she wrote. "Slowly getting there and managed to walk to the end of the road. Result! Note snazzy stick mainly to keep people away from my foot!"
Referring to the surgery as her "fourth op over the years," Chapman joked about her physical limits while expressing gratitude for the outcome. She wrote that she was "never gonna make Strictly Come Dancing nor run a marathon but grateful for each tweak keeping me mobile and pain free," adding: "Thanks for your lovely get well messages."
Chapman is one of British daytime television's best-known presenters, having hosted the BBC One rural property programme Escape to the Country since 2009. The series helps prospective buyers search for homes in the British countryside, a format that regularly involves walking across fields and rural properties. Before her television career, she worked in music publicity and talent management and rose to national prominence as a judge on the ITV talent competitions Popstars and Pop Idol in the early 2000s.
Messages from Vanessa Feltz, Nick Knowles and fans
Celebrity friends and viewers quickly filled the comments section of her Instagram post with well wishes. Fellow broadcaster Vanessa Feltz, 64, wrote: "Oh my goodness. Wishing you a very speedy recovery sweet girl."
Former DIY SOS host Nick Knowles, 64, also sent a message of support, writing: "Huge but gentle hugs to you from me and Katie xx."
Supporters also referenced Chapman's husband, music executive Dave Shackleton, in their replies. One fan wrote: "Big hugs Nicki. Plenty of rest and I bet your Shaky is a good nurse." A second supporter commented: "Get well soon Nicki, your television and radio super fans need you."
Ankle spurs diagnosis and early career change
According to the National Health Service (NHS), bone spurs are medically known as osteophytes. In its guidance on the condition, the NHS states: "Osteophytes (bone spurs) are bony lumps that grow on the bones in the spine or around joints. They form when a joint or bone has been damaged by arthritis, but do not always cause problems."
For Chapman, however, the growths caused intense discomfort from her teenage years. Recalling how the problem started, she previously said: "I started getting pains that felt like I'd twisted it," adding that "I couldn't work out what I'd done."
"It was so sore I went to my doctor and was referred to a consultant who diagnosed ankle spurs. Bone spurs are tiny pointed outgrowths of bone which occur where the normal bone keeps growing," she explained. "They were causing a restriction within my ankle, which became inflamed and excruciatingly painful."
The diagnosis forced her to abandon her original career plans as a teenager. "I had an operation to remove them, and remember my consultant warning me against pursuing any career involving standing up," she recalled, adding that the specialist told her "otherwise I'd have serious problems by the time I was 30."
"I'd always wanted to be a theatrical make-up artist, which involves lots of standing, so my career dreams were shattered. But I followed his advice because looking after my wellbeing was paramount," she said.
2019 brain tumour diagnosis and recovery
Her recurring foot surgeries are not the only serious health challenge she has faced. In 2019, Chapman was diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumour that had grown to the size of a small golf ball.
Speaking to presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on the ITV daytime show This Morning in 2019, she explained how the earliest symptoms appeared after an earlier joint operation. "I had a knee op at the beginning of the year and I was off," she said. "I was trying to read an email and I couldn't see it. I put it down to my age and went on holiday."
Her symptoms became more severe when she returned to work. "I came back and did a photoshoot and couldn't see, I did a voice-over and I couldn't speak, nothing would come out. It lasted about 5 to 10 minutes," she recalled.
Worried that she had suffered a stroke, Chapman told her husband, Dave Shackleton, that she could not see. They went immediately to Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, west London, where she underwent several scans and received the diagnosis.
Doctors warned her that the life-saving surgery required to remove the tumour carried the risk of permanent loss of speech, sight or movement. The golf-ball-sized mass was removed two weeks later, though a tiny sliver was too tricky for surgeons to excise, leaving Chapman worried that the tumour, which she named Bert, might return.
In March 2022, Chapman announced that the remaining growth had unexpectedly vanished just over four months earlier, revealing that she broke down in tears when she received the news while filming in a field full of pigs.
