Tributes are paid to cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James
Tributes have been paid online to Dame Deborah James, after the journalist and podcast host's death at the age of 40. She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, and recently been receiving end-of-life care at home. In June, she celebrated a milestone, raising a huge £1 million for charity, through In The Style, her online fashion company. Dame Deborah was described as ‘amazing’ and an ‘inspiration’ by her family, who announced the news on her Instagram page. ‘We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Dame Deborah James; the most amazing wife, daughter, sister, mummy,’ it said.
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A post shared by Deborah James (@bowelbabe)
Dame Deborah James was a former deputy headmistress and also hosted the You, Me & the Big C podcast alongside Steve Bland, Deborah James and Lauren Mahon. Her final episode was released in May, titled ‘Deborah James’ Last Dance’, where she talked about her decision to spend final days of life at her parents’ home, saying ‘it was where I always wanted to die’. She also said that she wanted her London home to be a place her children could go back to without ‘medical equipment scars everywhere’.
George Alagiah, BBC News presenter, who is living with bowel cancer reflected on his conservation with Dame Deborah at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Knowing that @bowelbabe Dame Deborah James was nearing the end of her journey here does not make her passing any easier to accept. She was a beaco