Dame Deborah James' touching last letter to her family saw valuable advice such as be 'brave' and 'only marry for love' passed onto her beloved children.
The BBC podcaster, who devastatingly passed away in June last year aged just 40, penned the book 'How To Live When You Could Be Dead' during her long battle with ultimately terminal stage-four bowel cancer.
In the book, she recorded all of the lessons learned throughout her agonising four-year fight with the disease - paying particular attention to never giving up when adversity comes knocking. The Dame also had some incredibly important tailored advice to her children.
Read more: Deborah James' friend admits he 'couldn't put the phone down' on heartbreaking final call
The Mirror reports that after describing the 'mental snapshots' which are ever-present as a parent, Deborah talks about the moment of seeing her now 14-year old son, just four days old - cradled against her. It was at that point in time where she began to truly 'understand what love was'.
She also added that she wanted to 'protect him in the way' she did when he was a youngster, but stayed strong that her kids will cope after she passed. In the book, the Dame also known as Bowelbabe, wrote: "I believe in self-fulfilling prophecies, I believe in rebellious hope and I believe my children will be OK when I die.
"I want them to realise that life does not always go according to plan. You can make plans, and you can have goals, but you have to be prepared for the fact that sometimes life is more interesting when you go off-piste — so be brave. Take a chance and back yourself."
She went on: "Don’t leave the world and all it has to offer until retirement — experience it now. Learn to balance living in the now and being present in the moment with your plans for the future (although this may be the hardest lesson of all). Marry only for love."
Continuing to discuss making the most of life, she said that we are 'given 86,400 seconds every day' and that you 'understand their value' when they begin to slip away. Deborah revealled her 'greatest advice' to be 'do whatever you want with those seconds'.
How To Live When You Could Be Dead, by Deborah James (Vermillion, £14.99), was released August 18, 2022.
£3 from each UK sale will be paid to the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.
Cancer Research UK is a charity registered in England and Wales (1089464) and Scotland (SC041666).
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