The late Dame Deborah James' BowelBabe cancer research fund has raised £11.3 million and her mother, Heather, has said the her one wish was that the podcast host and campaigner was here to see it. Heather James, appearing on ITV's Lorraine also revealed that Deborah's two children, Hugo and Eloise, and the rest of her family, are taking a keen interest in what happens next with the fund and their mother's legacy.
Deborah died of bowel cancer age 40 last June, her mother, Heather, appeared the show on Wednesday, April 5, to celebrate the incredible amount BowelBabe has raised and to discuss her legacy.
Speaking of the amount raised since launching the platform in May 2022, Heather explained: "She set a target of £250,000 and I think within a day, it had hit one million pounds and she was just overwhelmed - as we all were. I just wish she was here to see it was £11.3 million but we’re not going to stop there, we’re going to make it even bigger!
"Besides the money, that’s amazing, I just want to thank every supporter. There were over 330,000 individual supporters to raise that and to me, that is overwhelming, the amount of people she touched… and it’s a big thank you to them as well."
Reflecting on Deborah's diagnosis and the life-changing treatment she received - meaning she lived an extra two years - as a result of cancer research, which BowelBabe's vast sum is going towards, Heather told stand-in host Ranvir Singh: "When Deborah was first diagnosed, the treatment, this new targeted treatment that gave her an extra two years wasn't even available then - when she was first diagnosed. So, how amazing that hopefully with research and in the future, more people can live with cancer and live longer."
Ranvir noted how Deborah's 15-year-old son has taken an interest in what happens with the funding. Heather added: "All the family, we all have our little niche in what we do but the family are really into what Deborah wanted. And Deborah was quite a science geek. She needed to... You know, her son and daughter and family are all hoping that we can continue the legacy that Deborah left."
Posing the question of whether, when she's not being the face of Deborah's campaign, Heather has time to recuperate and grieve or whether it's "go go go", Heather said with a smile: "That's a good question. Perhaps I love the go go go. Deborah was always go go go and full of energy. I think her legacy is going to be 'go go go'.
"Grieving, if I have too much time on my hands, you do think: ‘This is real, she’s not here anymore’ but she’s in our lives so much in everything that she’s left behind, I will keep campaigning and if we can do that for Deborah’s legacy, then that’s great.
“But grieving wise, it’s more hard now that reality has set in. It’s sad. You get numb when it first happens, then you go through, ‘Is this real?’ and now it’s hit the stage, ‘This is real’.”
Joining Heather on the sofa was Dr Hilary, the channel's resident doctor, who explained that in the two weeks after her death, visits to the GP surged for referrals for early bowel cancer diagnosis. He said: "She’s saved countless lives already and because she made it ok to talk about those difficult things, that some people would find otherwise embarrassing, of course, her legacy will be forever.”
Earlier in the interview, Ranvir spoke with Dan Burkwood from Cancer Research UK who explained the impact this funding will have on the cause: “£11.3 million is such a significant amount of money and again, the number of people that have supported this campaign just shows how many people [Deborah] inspired and touched. We really hope we can do some amazing work with this, have an impact and help the Deborahs of the future, which is what we all know she really wanted.”
Lorraine’s No Butts campaign to raise awareness of bowel cancer, which Dame Deborah helped launch, will return on Monday, April 17.
For more on Dame Deborah's BowelBabe fund, see here.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV1 & ITVX
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