Dame Deborah James

James' mother also shared details of the day her daughter received a damehood from Prince William.

He was so lovely, I think he is a people’s king.” [Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) “I think the hardest thing was knowing she was going to die. “She went ‘I have no regrets’ and I went ‘that’s brilliant’. [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. But she did say I don’t want to die. “We were given three to five days, Deborah lived eight weeks. The fund has raised more than £7.4m. [between the months of May and July, 170,500 people have been referred for checks](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/nhs-boris-johnson-people-gps-you-b2144338.html) for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers. [James received her damehood from Prince William](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/prince-william-deborah-james-damehood-b2086250.html), and what it was like to welcome a member of the royal family into their home. She also founded the Bowel Babe Fund to raise money for cancer research. [Deborah James](/topic/deborah-james) has expressed her gratitude to the public for their support in the weeks leading up to and after her daughter’s death.

Dame Deborah James's mother has shared an emotional conversation she had with her daughter days before she died from bowel cancer aged 40.

My heartache was knowing as a mother I couldn’t do anything about that and I think that was the hardest for me to cope with. But she did say “I don’t want to die”. ‘I still find that amazing, that she had the love of the people out there and that meant a lot, it’s meant a lot to the family and it still does,’ she told the programme. Elsewhere during the interview, Heather told the programme that she told James: ‘”I don’t know what I’m going to do when you go” and she went “you will continue and you will enjoy life”. ‘And I went “I don’t know if I can” and she went “then you haven’t done me justice”.’ I can remember lying in bed, probably just about a week or so before she died and she was quite poorly that night and she went, “I do love you” and I went, “I love you”.

Dame Deborah James' mum Heather has opened up about her daughter's passing in her first television interview since the brave campaigner's death in June this ...

It meant a lot to the family and it still does." And she said: 'I have no regrets, you know?' "How can you not love what she did in that eight weeks and it did help knowing other people loved her and wanted to help in any way they could." "That eight weeks was probably in one way the best eight weeks we’ve had together as a family, even though she died at the end of it. Heather shared her pride over her daughter's incredible achievements as she said: "I still find that amazing that she had that love of the people out there and that meant a lot. [Dame Deborah James'](https://www.irishmirror.ie/all-about/deborah-james) mum Heather has revealed the campaigner admitted she didn't want to die shortly before [she died at age 40.](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-dame-deborah-james-dies-26918931)

Heather James has spoken about her daughter Deborah's final weeks and the support the family received after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

She was a phenomenal campaigner, and you can just see the impact that she's had there with people coming forward. So it's all of those little conversations, like ripples in a pond, that will keep going, and that's really important because bowel cancer is not an easy one to talk about." I've spoken to so many people with bowel cancer who've felt that they've had the confidence to go and tell their own story now because Deborah did so. My heartache was knowing as a mother I couldn't do anything about that and I think that was the hardest for me to cope with. I can remember lying in bed, probably just about a week or so before she died and she was quite poorly that night and she went, 'I do love you' and I went, 'I love you'. That eight weeks was probably in one way the best eight weeks we've had together as a family, even though she died at the end of it. She went 'I have no regrets' and I went 'That's brilliant', how many people could say that? In Dame Deborah's final days at her parents' house, Ms James was her main carer. She also launched a clothing range with In The Style and completed her second book, titled How To Live When You Could Be Dead, which is being published on August 18. How can you not love what she did in that eight weeks and it did help knowing other people loved her and wanted to help in any way they could." Heather, whose Instagram handle is Bowelgran, spoke about Dame Deborah's last few weeks and the outpouring of love the family received. Podcaster and campaigner Dame Deborah, known by her social media handle Bowelbabe, died on June 28 at the age of 40, after being diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 35.

Heather James told of the heartbreaking moment Dame Deborah - who died in June after being diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer - said “I don't want to die”.

I think we owe that to Deborah.” “And she went ‘then you haven’t done me justice’. Following her diagnosis Dame Deborah, a former deputy headteacher, spoke candidly about her cancer journey through podcasts and writing. “So I think we have to all not just live life but enjoy living life and live it to the best that we can. “But she did say ‘I don’t want to die’, and that’s really the hardest, saddest part.” [cancer](/topic/cancer) campaigner Dame [Deborah James](/topic/deborah-james) said her daughter told her she did not want to die in a late-night chat, just days before her death.

Even after her death, the tireless work of the late journalist, campaigner and educator, Dame Deborah James, is making more people than ever come forward ...

We hope that the impact of this increased awareness of the disease will be felt for years to come. We saw an increase of 120% to our bowel cancer information pages the day after she passed away, compared to the day before. While most changes won’t be cancer, if it is, an early diagnosis can make all the difference.”

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She received chemotherapy treatment and an operation to remove her tumour before she was given the all clear in 2018. [BowelBabe](https://www.bowelbabe.org/) fund on JustGiving in the final months of her life. “It is so important that we continue the work of Dame Deborah to raise awareness of bowel cancer and save more lives - so to anyone who has noticed symptoms, please do come forward.” [Deborah James](/topic/deborah-james), bowel cancer has come to the forefront of a national conversation on catching cancer as early as possible. [attributed much of this to Dame Deborah](https://www.england.nhs.uk/2022/08/nhs-checks-for-bowel-cancer-hit-record-high-thanks-to-dame-deborah/), who, by capturing the nation’s hearts, encouraged people to talk about the disease and raised for awareness for symptoms, such as blood in your poo. [England](/topic/england) are having [bowel cancer](/topic/bowel-cancer) checks thanks to ‘life-saving awareness raising’ by Dame [Deborah ](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/29/dame-deborah-james-obituary) [James, the ](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/29/dame-deborah-james-obituary) [NHS](/topic/nhs) has said.

The number of people coming forward for bowel cancer checks has hit a record-high thanks to the 'lifesaving awareness' raised by Dame Deborah James, ...

Commenting on the surge, Dame Cally Palmer, national cancer director, NHS England, said: “Thanks to the brave and relentless campaigning of Dame Deborah James, bowel cancer has come to the forefront of a national conversation on catching cancer as early as possible, and the fact that we have seen record numbers of people coming forward for bowel cancer checks shows people are taking the illness seriously and speaking to their GPs about it. Symptoms can include blood in your poo, a change in bowel habits, persistent lower abdominal pain, unexpected weight loss and fatigue. The number of people coming forward for bowel cancer checks has hit a record-high thanks to the ‘lifesaving awareness’ raised by Dame Deborah James, the NHS reported.

Dame Deborah James' mother Heather has opened up about her daughter's final days as she revealed she lived a life 'with no regrets'...

"That must have been the toughest to write for her, because she knew she only had days left," Heather added. Dame Deborah set up the Bowelbabe fund to raise money for vital research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and has now raised over £7 million. “And that's the hardest, saddest part." Now Heather has shared new details about the family’s meeting with the The campaigner and host of the BBC’s You, Me and the Big C podcast had been visited at her home just a month before by Prince William, who awarded her a Damehood for her incredible work raising awareness of bowel cancer and raising millions of pounds for cancer research. According to the