Dame Deborah James paid a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London this week to celebrate a new rose that has been created in her honour.
The 40-year-old BBC presenter was made a Dame earlier this month due to the incredible charity fundraising and awareness raising she has achieved since being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Dame Deborah and her husband, Sebastian Bowen, share two children together; 14-year-old son Hugo and a daughter called Eloise, 12.
The TV and Radio star has been receiving treatment at a hospice as she continues to live with stage four bowel cancer – and she continues to fight to raise money and awareness in aid of Cancer Research.
Dame Deborah was honoured by The Harkness Rose Company who created a special rose – with proceeds of sales of the rose going to charity.
"Flowers are a reminder of our future," Dame Deborah said while viewing the roses at Chelsea Flower show.
"We plant the seed not knowing what we might see grow.
"Being around nature gives us a lift and it is a reminder that life continues to blossom, even in some of the hardest places, and brings a smile to all of our faces, even in the hardest of times - particularly mine."
Dame Deborah was captured on camera by the BBC arriving at the flower show where she could be heard exclaiming “This is amazing” as she arrived to see the rose.
The presenter of the BBC podcast You, Me And The Big C, said of her flower: “Roses are my favourite flowers and I hope this one will brighten the smiles for all!”.
Glasses of champagne were clinked to commemorate the moment, with Dame Deborah later taking to social media to highlight the event.
She said in an Instagram post: “What breaks my heart and brings me the most beautiful thought, is that this variety will and can now be grown forever, and maybe one day even Eloise might choose to have it in her wedding bouquet.”
Dame Deborah also highlighted that fans can buy the new rose too – with £2.50 from each sale going to a charitable cause and helping fund research at Cancer Research UK.
She also notes: “Roses are my favourite flowers and I hope this one will brighten the smiles for all! What also brings me so much joy is to know that the rose will also be incorporated into the company’s new Community Gardening Scheme which aims to get more vulnerable groups and people from underrepresented backgrounds involved in gardening.
“Harkness have pledged to give away 1,000 Dame Deborah James Roses to Community Gardens across the UK this autumn time.”
Meanwhile, the Harkness Rose Company wrote in an Instagram post of their own: “Sales of the rose have now raised more than £30,000 for the @bowelbabefund for Cancer Research UK. We would like to thank everyone who has bought a rose so far, it truly means so much to us and Dame Debs!”
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