Dame Deborah James ‘did everything she could hope to achieve’ before death, says husband
Dame Deborah James’s husband, Sebastian Bowen, has said that his wife “had done everything” she could hope to achieve before her death.
In his first broadcast interview since James’s death, Bowen told BBC Breakfast that James, popularly known as BowelBabe, died “in one of the best ways you could have hope to die with this terrible disease”.
James died last June aged 40 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer five years prior.
She was known by her social media handle Bowelbabe and presented the You, Me and the Big C podcast.
In an effort to raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms and normalise conversations around cancer, James authored two books, How to Live When You Could Be Dead and F*** You Cancer: How to Face the Big C, Live Your Life and Still Be Yourself.
Her husband Sebastien Bowen has spoken publicly for the first time since her death in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on BBC Breakfast.
“It was just such a difficult, difficult time,” he said. “It’s difficult to articulate how hard it really was.”
"I think she died in probably one of the best ways that you could have hoped to die with this terrible disease.”
He continued: “She had done everything she could hope to achieve.”
“She was surrounded by everyone who loved her, what else can you hope for really?”
James was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 aged 35. She initially thought her symptoms were irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
She became an outspoken campaigner and used her social media presence to encourage people to check for signs of the disease, which causes just over a quarter of all deaths in the UK.
Her honest posts about her diagnosis and progress won praise from the public and media alike. Videos of her dancing through her cancer treatment went viral online.
She also established the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, which has raised more than £11m.
James’s 13-year-old daughter Eloise described the amount raised as “mind-blowing”.
Her son Hugo said: "It’s just amazing to think, first of all, the legacy that it is, and then second of all, the amount that could be achieved with this £11 million is, I think, beyond what anyone could realise at this point."
Bowen said: "Hopefully, all of us working together, all the charities working together with more public awareness, will be able to, maybe not defeat bowel cancer, but at least change the odds that people will have."
The BBC will air a documentary about the campaigner featuring intimate footage recorded right up until the final weeks of her life.
The 80-minute film, titled Bowelbabe: In Her Own Words, draws on previously unseen mobile phone footage, her collection of TikTok videos and voice notes, Instagram posts, podcast audio and family videos.
With additional reporting from PA.
