In the last five years of her life, Deborah James, who has died aged 40 from cancer, never stopped talking about life as worth living. She did this as co-host of BBC Radio 5 Live’s award-winning, lively podcast about living with cancer, You, Me and the Big C, originally alongside the broadcast journalist Rachael Bland, who died in 2018, and the Girl Vs Cancer founder and activist Lauren Mahon.
From its first episode in March 2018, frankness, honesty and humour were the unique selling points of the show, and Deborah, diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in December 2016, was its outrageous heart. She said that she had “the glam cancer”, and talked in detail about her experiences and symptoms, such as “pooing blood”, because “one of the biggest problems is that people aren’t frank enough”.
