I’m blown away...BBC Deborah raises £1.9m in a day after goodbye message
DEBORAH James says she is delighted by the love she has felt from wellwishers who donated more than £1.9million in little over 24 hours as she nears the end. The podcast host launched the cash plea for Cancer Research after revealing she was now receiving hospice-at-home care for her terminal bowel cancer. Her original £250,000 target was quickly smashed. In an interview with the BBC yesterday, the mother of two said: “I’m absolutely mind blown. I cannot thank people enough for their generosity because it just means so much to me. “It makes me feel utterly loved. But it makes me feel like we’re all kind of in at the end together and we all want to make a difference and say screw you cancer! “We can do better for people and we just need to show it who’s boss.”
The You, Me and the Big C presenter, 40, launched her JustGiving charity page on Monday after saying no one knows “how much time I have left”. She has revealed her liver had stopped working in the past six months.
In an emotional goodbye post on social media the former deputy head teacher – diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 – reassured shattered supporters that she is “surrounded by family”.
The late BBC journalist Rachael Bland had launched the You, Me and the Big C show with Deborah and Lauren Mahon in 2018 after her own cancer diagnosis. And Deborah shocked supporters with the news this week that her health had taken a rapid decline. She
wrote: “We’ve tried everything, but my body simply isn’t playing ball.”
Deborah, who is parent to Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, with her husband Sebastien, has now moved into her parents’ home because it was “where I always wanted to die”.
She explained this meant their family home in London could remain home for her children without the “medical equipment scars” in their memories.
Yesterday she said she was thrilled by the generosity of those who had backed her fund, which will boost research.
She said: “Ultimately, I don’t want any other Deborahs to have to go through this. We know that when we catch cancer early, we can cure it.”
Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of the charity Bowel Cancer UK, said the number of lives Deborah will save with her awareness and fundraising was “nothing short of incredible”.
●●To donate visit Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK – JustGiving