Deborah James – British cancer sufferer raised £3million in donations now she’s saying goodbye

Five years ago, at the age of 35, Deborah James received the devastating diagnosis: cancer. As she battled the disease, she became a one-woman campaign against cancer. She amassed followers, hosted the BBC podcast You, Me & the Big C and wrote the book F*** You Cancer: How to Face the Big C, Live Your Life and Still Be Yourself and wrote for newspapers . With a last post on Instagram, she announced the end of the treatment. And in it she asked all her followers, readers and listeners for “one last drink” to say goodbye. In fact, she wished they all gave the money for a drink to her foundation, Bowelbabe. Deborah James had already raised a lot of money for cancer campaigns over the past five years, but in the end she wanted to leave a foundation with her Instagram name. Three million pounds have been raised so far.

Almost like a liberation

In a last interview with the London “Times” she spoke about her farewell to life. The long fight is over. “The treatment is now unsuccessful because my body can’t take it. As devastating as it is, there’s almost a sense of release knowing there’s nothing more I can do. My cancer is just taking over my body now.”

Now she has to say goodbye to her children, 14-year-old Hugo and 12-year-old Eloise. “It was awful telling my kids. My first thought was, ‘I don’t want them to see me like that’.” She fears that she will only cry, but she wants to cuddle with both of them one last time. Her last task is to write them letters.

For them, the Covid period has been a blessing, James admits. Because that was the only way she was able to experience her children so intensively in a small bell for two years. She wants to accompany her life with small gifts and postcards. “I want them to get letters on their life milestones and fun messages: Here’s my advice for your wedding day; what to do on the first date.”

afraid of dying alone

But she is already incredibly tired and weak, she admits to the reporter. That’s why Deborah James won’t be spending her final days at her London home. It’s beautiful, but full of corners and stairs, her husband should have carried her. Instead, she lives in her parents’ low-rise bungalow. She thanks all the nurses and their doctors for giving her another five incredible years. But she couldn’t stay in the hospital. “What my family knows is that I become paralyzed by the fear of being alone. I don’t want to die alone.”

Don’t marry chicks

Her husband Sebastian supported and accompanied her the whole time. “Incredible” because before their illness they were a normal overworked couple who fought over the children and housework. She also has plans for Sebastian. “I gave him strict instructions: I want him to get on with his life. He’s a good-looking man, I tell him: ‘Don’t let women fool you, don’t marry any chick, find someone else who will make you like that Laughter brings like we did’.”

James wishes that her ashes could stay in the kitchen for a while. In the long run she would like to be scattered in the park opposite, in front of a bench to mourn. “I will miss life. When you live life, the energy it gives you is amazing.”