DAME Deborah James’s extraordinary journey, living with stage 4 bowel cancer, has been captured in a poignant new BBC documentary.
It tells the Sun columnist’s story from diagnosis at the age of 35 to the weeks before her death in June last year at the age of 40.
In her own words, and featuring previously unseen footage of Dame Debs both as a child and during gruelling treatment, the feature-length film shares the highs and heartbreaking lows she faced.
The mum-of-two reveals it was a dream come true when she started writing her Sun column in 2017, adding her Nan was a huge Sun fan.
In the clip, filmed last March, Debs says: “I’ve been writing it for five years now.
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“I love writing for The Sun, because if you want to talk about bowel cancer you want to do it on a really big platform.
“I grew up with a nan who collected all the coupons in the paper, if she was alive she would be so proud.”
It comes just a week after Deborah’s family revealed her Bowelbabe Fund, which she set up in her final weeks, has raised a staggering £11.3million.
For those closest to her, seeing Dame Debs on the big screen, has proved a bittersweet moment, ten months after her death.
Good pal, and fellow cancer patient, Emma Campbell, told The Sun it captures the very essence of her vivacious friend.
“The film really captures Debs so perfectly, her spirit, her life force and her overwhelming desire to ‘kick the cancer can down the road’, not just for herself but for everyone living with cancer.
“It’s a wonderful reminder of her infectious love of life, she taught me and so many others what it means to truly ‘live’.”
The film, which will air on BBC 2 next Monday night at 9pm, ends on a poignant clip from her last BBC podcast.
She tells viewers: “It’s amazing how much you wish for another sunset or another cuddle.
“You can’t leave things until tomorrow, because there might not be a tomorrow.
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“Please enjoy life because it’s so precious. All I want right now is more time and more life.
“Oh and ‘check your poo’, I can’t leave on any other words than ‘check your poo’.
- Watch Deborah James: Bowelbabe in her own words, on BBC 2 at 9pm next Monday, April 16.