Presenter Deborah James has been hailed as a "beacon of inspiration" for her support for people with cancer. The mum has spent the last six years trying to find a cure after she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in December 2016.
Rather than fight it alone she documented her story on social media highlighting every step of her journey. On Monday she finally had to admit to followers that she no longer had long to live after "leaving no stone unturned" but without finding treatment to save her life.
But determined to make a difference to the end the mum, who goes by Bowelbabe on her social media, launched a fundraising appeal for research into the disease. Asking people to donate the price of a drink, it rapidly smashed its £250,000 target and by Wednesday morning it stood at more than £2.6m.
Now she has been praised for her public fight which has made a difference to many people, according to the doctor who has been treating her. Professor David Cunningham, who has been Deborah’s consultant at The Royal Marsden hospital, told BBC Breakfast: “Deborah has been a beacon of inspiration, hope and courage to many patients with cancer.
“She’s supported, personally, probably thousands, and reached many, many more than that through social media. This is very much how Deborah thinks – she’s unselfish, she’s thinking about the future, she’s thinking about other people.
“And that’s, I think, the driver for this fantastic initiative to set up a research fund to support further cancer research.”
Deborah wrote her last column for The Sun on Tuesday. She said: “The last six months have arguably been the hardest of my whole cancer journey.”
She said the “unrelenting medicalisation” of her body has been “heartbreaking” and that her moments out of hospital and pain-free have become more and more rare.
On Monday she tearfully revealed she had moved home to spend her final days with her family. And she told how she has had difficult conversations with her children.
Her fundraising appeal name echoes her social media handle, Bowelbabe, and is raising money for Cancer Research UK. The Just Giving page said it is “raising money to fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer”.
Asking people to donate the presenter wrote: "All I ask is that next time you pop for a coffee or grab a drink with a friend, please consider donating the cost of one extra for me. Your support in establishing the Bowelbabe Fund will help so many more people benefit, like I have, from the amazing work of these causes in the many years to come.
"Please help me, my family and everyone around us give one final F*** YOU to cancer! You are all incredible, thank you for playing your part in my journey." To donate to the fund go here
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