Love for Dame Deborah James breathtaking, says husband

The husband of cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James, who died last year, has remembered the broadcaster's "fighting spirit" in an emotional BBC interview.

Sebastien Bowen said Dame Deborah had "seized everything that life offers...right until the final moment".

He said the public "outpouring of love" in her final weeks was "breathtaking".

He added that he and their two children would do "everything we possibly can" to prevent bowel cancer, after a fund started by Dame Deborah reached £11.3m.

"It was inspiring and beautiful to see how everyone showed, through the donations, the impact that she'd had on hundreds of thousands of people's lives," he told BBC Breakfast.

He added: "There's also a kind of sadness, just reflecting back on it all - that she had to go through all of this - because the reality is she didn't, in the sense that she had symptoms months before she was actually diagnosed.

"If, somehow, we had just been able to truncate that period - from symptoms to diagnosis - she probably would still be with us today."

"But I guess that just fuels us on even more to make sure it doesn't happen to other people," he said.

"Hopefully all of us working together - all the charities working, together with more public awareness, we'll be able - maybe not [to] defeat bowel cancer but at least change the odds that people have."

Bowelbabe was set up in May 2022, a month before Dame Deborah's death, to raise money for Cancer Research UK, with an initial target of £250,000.

"The amount that could be achieved with that £11m is beyond what anyone could realise at this point," said Dame Deborah's 15-year-old son, Hugo.

"I hope that it could save thousands, tens of thousands of lives if possible - and I think the way it's going, it could save more."

• Dame Deborah's cancer fund raises £11.3m

• 'Deborah told me she didn't want to die', says mum

• Tailored cancer care - Dame Deborah's fundraising legacy

Dame Deborah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, aged 35, and became an outspoken campaigner, encouraging people to check for signs of the deadly disease.

All of the family spoke about her "message of positivity", even in those final weeks, and how she "embodied rebellious hope".

"If you don't stay positive, you just think about the negatives and that really brings you down," said her daughter, Eloise, 13.

"She always used to say - if it ever rains just go out and feel the rain on your face because you're so lucky and privileged to be alive," said Mr Bowen.

"There will be a lot of people who understand what that means, in terms of how lucky we are just to live life on a day-to-day basis. So many of us take it for granted but it is really, truly unique and special, and that's what she realised."

The mother-of-two died last June aged 40, a month after receiving a damehood from the then Duke of Cambridge for her fundraising efforts. At the time, she was receiving end-of-life care at her parents' home in Surrey.

"It's difficult to say, but I think she died in one of the best ways that you could hope to die with this terrible disease," said her husband.

"She died surrounded by her mother, her father, her sister, me - all of us holding her hand, being there for her. It's the first time I've ever seen someone pass away but it was, there was - I think - a peace to it.

"I think she had done everything that she could have hoped to achieve, she was surrounded by everyone that loved her. What else can you hope for really?"

What are bowel cancer symptoms?

• A persistent change in bowel habit - going more often, with looser stools and sometimes tummy pain

• Blood in the stools without other symptoms, such as piles

• Abdominal pain, discomfort or bloating always brought on by eating

Source: NHS UK