Girls’ big night in for Dame Deb and family
DAME Deborah James revealed she cried tears of joy after being treated to a surprise ‘girly sleepover’ with family and friends.
However the cancer campaigner, 40, said she was feeling the ‘pressure’ to make memories as she receives end-of-life care.
She shared pictures of the impromptu, pink-themed event and wrote with her typical frank humour: ‘Making memories can be hard when you are dying! oh the pressure!
‘I’m now only getting some very grabbed hours between the sleeping and side effects, but this girly sleepover managed to put such a smile to my face having spent most of yesterday in tears.’
Dame Deborah, a former deputy head teacher from London, has been living with stage four bowel cancer since December 2016. The presenter of BBC podcast You, Me And The Big C revealed it was becoming harder for her to leave her bed, and so her siblings organised the sleepover.
‘I was feeling awful after a bad day, so didn’t watch the set up of anything,’ she said. ‘But with the help of my sister and bro, managed to calm down and then they wheeled me into the room last night and yes I cried over the fairy lights! Good tears! It was just perfect! I went from staying in my wheelchair to everyone helping to get me into an actual teepee to watch Cinderella with the gang and sit there like a five-year-old with a huge Cheshire cat smile on my face next to my daughter and sister!’
The mother of two, also known as Bowelbabe, has raised more than £6.5million for cancer charities in recent weeks.
Last week she visited the Chelsea Flower Show to see a rose named after her.