THE mother of Dame Deborah James said she would rather “hide” than do Christmas this year but has decided to celebrate her daughter.
Sun writer Dame Debs captured the hearts of the nation in the weeks before she died of Stage 4 bowel cancer on June 28.
Heather James (pictured), opened up about the family’s first Christmas without her daughter
bowelbabe/InstagramDame Deb kept her Instagram followers up to date with her treatments[/caption]
In the mother-of-two’s final months, the Sun columnist raised almost £7 million for cancer research.
Her mother Heather James, whose Instagram handle is Bowelgran, spoke on ITV’s Lorraine on Wednesday about how she feels during her first Christmas without Dame Debs.
She said: “It’s very hard. I think it’s hard for anybody who has lost anybody, but Deborah loved Christmas – she was so into it.
“The build-up to it, the enthusiasm, the sparkles and have I got that energy? I try, for her. Part of me would like to not do it, but that’s not what she wanted.”
Heather said they had tried to replicate Dame Deborah’s Christmas traditions, adding: “We tried to make table decorations last week and I did it with my other daughter and my future daughter-in-law.
“We cracked open the champagne, I drank most of it.”
She also said: “I knew Deborah would say, ‘Mum, that’s great that you’re doing this’. But it’s putting the effort into (this) … part of me would like to just hide and not do it.
“That’s not what we’re going to do, we’re going to celebrate Deborah,” she said.
Heather is a champion of Dame Deborah’s No Butts campaign, which aims to raise awareness of bowel cancer and has the symptoms of the disease written on Serious Tissues’ toilet paper.
She said her daughter leaves a “great legacy” which includes record numbers, released in August, of people having bowel cancer checks.
Between the months of May and July 2022, 170,500 people referred for checks for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers.
It is up over 30,000 compared with the same period in 2021, and nearly 80,000 higher than the same period two years ago.
Dame Deborah was diagnosed in 2016 and shared her experiences in her Sun column Things Cancer Made Me Say, while keeping her one million Instagram followers up to date.
Her candid posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, won praise from the public and media alike.
Shortly before her death, and after a Sun campaign to make her a Dame, Debs was given the honour with the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying: “If ever an honour was richly deserved, this is it.”
The Sun launched the No Time 2 Lose campaign in April 2018 – to call on the Government to lower the screening age to 50, which could save 4,500 lives annually.
In the summer of 2018, health secretary Matt Hancock announced screening in England would be lowered to 50 – marking a victory for The Sun and campaigners.
The programme expanded to include 56 year olds in 2021.
What are the first symptoms of bowel cancer?
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes and going to your doctor is vital. If you notice any of the signs, don’t be embarrassed and make sure you speak to your GP
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
A change in your normal toilet habits – going more frequently for example
Pain or a lump in your tummy
Extreme tiredness
Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs of bowel cancer include:
Gripping pains in the abdomen
Feeling bloated
Constipation and being unable to pass wind
Being sick
Feeling like you need to strain – like doing a number two – but after you’ve been to the loo
Source: Cancer Research UK