DEB’S £4M DELIGHT
‘Bowelbabe’ mum overwhelmed by donations
CANCER campaigner Deborah James has raised £4.4million in the five days since she revealed she had lost her own fight with the disease.
The mum of two, 40, now receiving end-of-life care for bowel cancer, has tracked the progress of her illness on the BBC podcast You, Me and the Big C.
On Monday, launching the Bowelbabe Fund to help others with the disease, she said she had stopped all treatment.
And on Thursday it was learned the Queen had made her a dame for her tireless work. Deborah said: “I’m blown away and feel incredibly honoured. I don’t feel like I deserve this. I can’t tell you what this means to my family. It’s so much to take in.”
Damehoods are usually given in the New Year or Queen’s Birthday Honours but can be awarded at other times in exceptional cases.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “If ever an honour was richly deserved, this is it. She has been an inspiration and a source of strength to so many.”
Deborah launched the Bowelbabe Fund with a £250,000 target, saying: “I want to set up a fund that can continue working on things that gave me life.”
Her target was quickly surpassed and more cash rolled in after the news of her damehood was revealed. The former deputy head, who was diagnosed in 2016, paid tribute to staff at the Royal Mardsen Hospital in London.
In her announcement on Monday, Deborah, who is being cared for at her parents’ Surrey home, said: “The time has come to say goodbye.
“I want to die listening to my family. I want to hear the normal buzz of life as I go.”