William praises ‘brave’ Deborah on hospital trip
PRINCE William has heralded “brilliant, brave and inspirational” bowel cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James as he met some of the staff who have treated her.
The Duke of Cambridge told how he was blown away by meeting Deborah this month, as he made a personal visit to her family home in Woking, Surrey, to award her with a damehood.
He said: “I loved meeting her, she was fantastic – her legacy is massive.”
Deborah, who uses social media tag Bowel Babe, has raised more than £6.5million in three weeks after announcing she was moving to hospice care after her fiveyear ordeal.
Visiting The Royal Marsden hospital, in Chelsea, West London, yesterday – one of the cancer research centres that will benefit from the millions raised – William put on medical scrubs.
He then saw some pioneering robotic surgery which will deliver faster, more accurate treatment to cancer patients.
Speaking to patient Lorraine Kimber, 59, from Essex, who is undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer and knows Dame Deborah well, the prince described his meeting with her.
Mrs Kimber remarked that he had been able to help her “create some fantastic memories”.
Dame Deborah, 40, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 but rather than accept her diagnosis that she may have a year to live, she battled to make her 40th birthday.
She became a celebrated campaigner and known for giving a candid account of her treatment via the You, Me and the Big C podcast.
The Prince was introduced to the team who treated Deborah – chief nurse Mairead Griffin, deputy chief Jo Waller and ward sister Rowena Trono. He told them: “She was on amazing form when I saw her.
“I was very honoured to speak to her. Thank you to you all for what you have done for her. She spoke very highly about her care. It was a touching moment. She is a brave and inspirational woman.”
Rowena praised Deborah, saying she is “full of inspiration not only to all the patients but people who worked in the trust”.