Davina McCall has recalled the 14 empowering final words she said to her surgeon before she underwent a life-saving brain operation.

Last November, the TV presenter, 57, endured a complex six-hour operation to remove a 14mmm colloid cyst from her brain, after the tumour had earlier been picked up during a routine scan.

And in a new interview with The Times, in which Davina chats her consultant neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill, she admits that she was tempted to beg him to ‘keep me alive’ for the sake of her three children, but she instead opted for a calmer approach.

Davina recalled how she ensured she stayed ‘the calmest place’ to ensured Dr O’Neill remained focused for the task ahead, instead telling him: ‘You do whatever you need to do. I put all my faith in you’.

And it is these powerful final words that Davina believes contributed to the success of the surgery, with Dr O’Neill likening the procedure to ‘diffusing a bomb’.

She said of her desire to support her surgeon: ‘He doesn’t need me screaming at him to keep me alive. He needs to be in the calmest and most confident place. I wanted to empower Kevin to do the best job he could.’

In the wake of the surgery – which saw Dr O’Neill peel back her scalp and drill into her skull and remove the cyst from the third ventricle of her brain with the assistance of GPS technology – the pair have now become firm friends.

Davina gushed of the surgeon – who identifies himself as an ’empath – ‘We’re going to be friends for the rest of our lives…We are going to go out to dinner with our partners! We are GOING TO DO IT!’

Despite putting her faith in Dr O’Neill, Davina assured she finalised her will and got her affairs in order before going under the knife.

Detailing the heartbreaking preparations she made, she explained: ‘I set up my whole life before I went into the operating theatre knowing that, if I didn’t make it, the kids would be OK. I needed to go under the anaesthetic knowing I had my ducks in a row.

‘It was my way of letting go. I am so grateful for that process, because I realised through all of it that, if I were not around, my children would be on the right path.’

Davina shares children Holly, Tilly, and Chester, with ex-husband Matthew Robertson.

It comes after Davina said she was comforted by the spirit of her late father following her gruelling brain surgery.

The personality lost her graphic designer dad Andrew, aged 77, following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that affects memory, speech and balance.

And as she paid tribute to her father with a sweet snap to mark the third anniversary of his death last month, she revealed that he ‘visited her after her operation’.

Davina underwent surgery last year after a doctor discovered a colloid cyst in her brain.

But following the surgery, Davina has said that Andrew visited and explained that the experience felt ‘soooooo real’ and revealed it ‘felt nice’ to see him.

Sharing a sweet picture to Instagram of them sharing a hug, Davina penned: ‘Three years have passed .. miss you … best Dad ever.

‘Solid, dependable, silly, fun, honest, safe, encouraging, happy, cuddly , mummy , Milly and I think about you every day … you visited me after my op … you were soooooo real … I feel like I’ve seen you recently!!! Feels nice !!!!’

Davina has been open about her health scare and previously gave an emotional update in an Instagram video as she urged others to get private health checks if they can afford it.

The My Mum Your Dad presenter had her tumour picked up at a private clinic when  she was offered a health check after taking part in a talk about menopause.

And it wasn’t just her health that was impacted by the tumour as her relationship with partner Michael Douglas was put to the test.

Speaking to Steven Bartlett on her Begin Again podcast, Davina admitted that she and Michael were ‘really really really close’ ahead of her operation, but believes the toughest time for him came while she was intensive care for several days.

She said: ‘What’s been interesting, is that I think it has been the most testing time for him ever, to see me who is ”Mrs in Control of everything.”

‘I mean beforehand, the fear and everything bought us really really really close together but I think the first month for him in hospital was so painful and difficult and hard, and that Whatsapp group was his therapy, his saving grace, I don’t know what he would have done without it.

‘But this is the amazing thing about him as a man, he is everything. He is strong, he’s soft, he’s funny, he’s serious, he’s really smart and super silly.

‘I think I was in intensive care for two/three days in the end.. I think for him I think for Michael those few days at the beginning, even after three or four days we had a breakthrough.’