After directing sport related content for Channel 4, where she helped to bring American football to British television, she anchored coverage of the 1987 World Student Games and 1988 Summer Olympics for ITV.

As well as covering mainstream events such as the 1996 Summer Olympics, she became a champion of disability sports, helping to raise its profile and change its public and media perception.

Rollason's television career also helped to open up the way for other women to enter the world of sports broadcasting, with presenters such as Sue Barker and Gabby Logan following in her footsteps.

[6] After leaving school she studied at the University of Brighton's Chelsea College of Physical Education in Eastbourne, where she became Vice-President of the Students Union.

Among the events for which she helped to provide coverage were the final of the 1984 Davis Cup, held in Sweden, and Super Bowl XIX, which took place in 1985.

Jane Swan, General Secretary of the British Paralympic Association, later described how Rollason's support for the event had helped to change its image.

"[2] She presented sports bulletins for BBC News, wrote a weekly column about her illness for the Sunday Mirror Magazine and worked on a book about her experience that she hoped would help others diagnosed with the disease.

[20] In October 1998, the BBC aired a special edition of its QED documentary series titled Hope for Helen, which followed her as she underwent a course of treatment.

[1][21][22] in December 1998, colleagues paid tribute to an emotional-looking Rollason during the BBC's Sports Review of the Year, a compliment that produced mixed feelings for the presenter.

[1][23] In April 1999, the BBC announced plans to overhaul its Six O'Clock News bulletin, and that an in-depth sports preview fronted by Rollason would be included in the programme's Friday edition.

[27] Rollason became involved in charity work, raising £5 million for a cancer wing at North Middlesex Hospital, which was named in her honour.

[28] Later that month, the BBC aired Helen Rollason: The Bravest Fight, a 30-minute documentary presented by Peter Sissons in which friends and colleagues paid tribute to her.

[30][31] As the first female presenter of Grandstand, Helen Rollason was a pioneer of British sports broadcasting, an industry that was predominantly male at the time, and she established a precedent that allowed others to follow.

[1][32] Sue Barker, Hazel Irvine, Gail McKenna, Shelley Webb and Gabby Logan all followed in Rollason's footsteps to become noted UK sports presenters, with Logan joining ITV as their first female sports presenter in the late 1990s, where she co-hosted the football show On the Ball and was a contributor to The Premiership.

[34][35] Its first recipient was retired National Hunt trainer Jenny Pitman, who was herself diagnosed with cancer, and was presented with the award at that year's ceremony on 12 December.

[36] Other Helen Rollason Award recipients include yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur in 2001 for her courage in becoming the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe,[37] footballer Geoff Thomas in 2005 for raising in excess of £150,000 for the Leukaemia Research charity by cycling, following his own battle with the disease,[38] and in 2014, the competitors of the inaugural Invictus Games, a multi-sport event for sick and injured service personnel, which made its debut that year.

[49] in 2011, a new research centre named after Rollason and offering treatment for patients as part of clinical trials of new cancer therapies was opened at Chelmsford's Broomfield Hospital.

Additionally, eleven apartment blocks within the development would be named after people associated with Rollason or winners of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.