How you can grant Debs’ last wish
Mail’s Gut Health Guru, who knew the ‘Bowelbabe’, urges readers to honour her legacy by safeguarding their health
AS LAST requests go, it was certainly an unusual one. In a moving final message shared on Instagram by her family, Dame Deborah James urged us all to: ‘Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope. And finally, check your poo — it could just save your life.
It was typical Debs. Because while her loss is nothing short of devastating, she also leaves behind an incredible legacy.
Since she and I first met three years ago, working on a campaign about the importance of fibre for gut health — just one of the many things she did to raise the profile of bowel cancer since her diagnosis in 2016 — I’ve been in awe of her.
Not many people could achieve what Debs did, especially when struggling with such serious illness, but I am so thankful that she did.
Through her tireless work, she brought bowel cancer to the fore. She de-stigmatised a disease that kills thousands in the UK every year, often because of late diagnosis — a result of embarrassment when it comes to talking about our toilet issues. She also raised huge sums of money that will go towards research into preventing, diagnosing and curing the disease.
Her impact can be seen directly in the fact that in May, straight after Debs launched her Bowelbabe fund for Cancer Research UK as she announced that she was moving to palliative care at home, online searches for ‘bowel cancer’ rose by 280 per cent.
Three times more people than usual visited Cancer Research UK’s web pages on bowel cancer — and, as people rushed to get more information, they also rushed to donate: her fund has raised more than £7 million, and still rising.
Up until the end, and long past it, this inspirational woman will be making a difference. Just last week it was announced that Andrex, Tesco and many others are to list bowel cancer symptoms on their packs of loo roll, a campaign driven by Debs.
The fact is that bowel cancer does not discriminate in who it attacks — young, old, male, female, healthy, unhealthy.
Also called colorectal cancer, it’s the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with 43,000 people diagnosed a year.
In most cases, if diagnosed early, it’s curable. The heartbreaking thing is that it’s often diagnosed too late, which is why of all cancers, it is the second biggest killer, claiming more than 16,500 people in the UK a year.
So please, heed Debs’s call to follow your gut instinct and never ignore symptoms, no matter how squeamish you feel. I promise your doctor has seen and heard worse.
Debs realised something wasn’t right when she started pooing eight times a day, having always been a ‘once a day’ kind of girl.
Our extensive symptoms guide (above right) covers the other signs you should look for, and a persistent change in your bowel movements is among them.
Apart from the importance of addressing symptoms immediately, one thing that really strikes me is more than half of bowel cancers are said to be preventable. This does not account for all cases — especially in young people, where the cause is often genetic or unexplained — but the older you are (nine in ten cases are in the over-50s), the more likely diet and lifestyle is implicated.
So take protective measures, such as cutting down on alcohol and processed meat and eating more fibre and plants. Being more active and keeping your weight in check is sensible, too.
Debs’s death is a tragedy. And it would add to that tragedy if, now she’s gone, we stop talking about how to prevent bowel cancer. In the words of Dame Deborah: ‘Check your poo.’