Dame Deborah James’ husband Sebastien has shared the final words he said to her before she “slipped away”.
The campaigner, who became known as bowelbabe, passed away aged 40 in June after battling bowel cancer for five years.
Speaking to The Sun, her beloved husband Sebastien said that he told her how proud he was of her in her final moments.
“I kissed her on the head. I told her how much I loved her, that I would look after the kids and the last thing I said to her was that I was so proud of her. Then she slipped away.”
He added: “She had an incredibly peaceful death, if there was a way to die well, then she managed it.
“At the very end, it was quite spiritual.”
Dame Deborah, a former deputy headteacher, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and subsequently kept her nearly one million Instagram followers up to date with her treatments.
Her candid posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, won praise from both the public and media.
In her final months, the presenter of the BBC podcast You, Me And The Big C raised almost £7 million for cancer research, with the amount climbing further following her death.
Sebastien said he was in “total awe” of his late wife.
“It’s her magic, her way of finding joy in every moment - even in the darkest of times. That’s what I’ll miss most, it’s quite a rare thing,” he told the newspaper.
“It was at the very core of what made her unique.”
