Dame Deborah James burst into the garden, unaware her husband Sebastien was on a work Zoom call. He turned to look at his wife; the inspirational cancer campaigner wearing a long sequin coat and feather headdress.
In one hand she held aloft a large sex toy, in the other a kitchen sieve.
This is the memory that Lauren Mahon says most encapsulates the essence of her best friend, who died last week aged just 40.
“I am so proud of the dame, I am in awe of her, but I am sorry, I miss the deviant,” cancer activist Lauren says on the latest episode of BBC ’s You, Me and The Big C, the podcast she co-hosted with Deborah.
During her short life, campaigner Deborah raised millions for Cancer Research UK, inspired many with her optimism and courage showcased through her social media account @bowelbabe and saved lives as she encouraged people to seek medical help if there was blood in their stool.
And in the podcast episode – the first since the mother-of-two’s death following her well-publicised battle with stage 4 bowel cancer – Lauren speaks with producers Mike Holt and Al Entwistle, and friend Steve Bland about what a character Deborah was.
Lauren says: “It doesn’t feel real because she was the comeback kid. We always just assumed she would be the one who would outdo all the odds.
“We miss Deborah, who turned up to podcast recordings unwashed, swore like a sailor and had the biggest cackle ever. Someone who previously worked in computer science but couldn’t work an iPad.”
Al says: “She was sophisticated when she wanted to be, but the flip side of that was she was a little bit mad.”
They recall how she was late for everything, had a wicked sense of humour and a twinkle in her eye. How they danced and drank prosecco with a friend who had an amazing laugh but sang like a lawnmower.
A woman who had no qualms stripping to her underwear at a taxi rank in broad daylight to change her dress.
Steve, whose wife Rachel co-hosted the podcast until her death from breast cancer in 2018, says: “Deborah was bonkers and wonderful in every single possible way, but for all the bonkersness I think about all the people she helped and is going to keep on helping.
“A lot of people perhaps only got to know her in the last seven or eight weeks but for five years, she’s been doing this. She’s been helping people.
“Whether it’s people that have been diagnosed because they know their symptoms a lot better because they’ve seen her on TV, or they are on a drug because she put herself on a NICE [The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] panel, she was doing this every week. There are so many people alive directly because of Deb. That’s an amazing legacy.”
Although many people have Deborah to thank, Lauren points out that she too was thankful for them. “Deb, as much as she came across as bolshy, was sensitive. She did take things to heart,” says Lauren.
“Knowing that she’d helped somebody would light a fire within her and it kept her going.”
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