Deborah James: Her ‘zest for life’ will be missed this Christmas, mum Heather says

The campaigner’s family will continue fundraising in her name

Dame Deborah James’ family will celebrate their first Christmas without her this year after the campaigner died in June.

Her mother, Heather James, said her daughter’s “enthusiasm and zest for life” will be missed, but they are “determined to have an enjoyable time living with the rebellious hope that was so important to her”.

Heather’s words come as the family launched their festive fundraising campaign to raise money for Deborah’s Bowelbabe fund, which will go towards Cancer Research UK.

The bowel cancer campaigner and podcast host died at the age of 40 after a six-year battle with the disease.

She was known for her honesty in sharing her journey with her illness and treatment with followers on her social media channels.

Deborah also hosted the award-winning podcast You, Me and the Big C with Lauren Mahon and the late Rachael Bland, as well as writing her online column for The Sun titled Things Cancer Made Me Say.

Posting pictures of members of the family posing in Christmas-themed jumpers emblazoned with Deborah’s slogan “Rebellious Hope” on her Instagram account, Heather wrote: “We are all so pleased to support the launch of the Rebellious Hope Christmas jumper.

“Deborah loved the build-up to Christmas and had great fun choosing and wearing Christmas jumpers over the years – even persuading her father to wear them!”

The jumper will be sold by fashion brand In The Style, with 100 per cent of profits going to the Bowelbabe fund, Heather added.

Deborah launched her fund in the weeks leading up to her death. In her goodbye message, when she announced she had been moved into at-home hospice care, the activist asked followers to donate to help fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients, as well as supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer.

Within 12 hours of the launch, the Bowelbabe fund exceeded its initial target of £250,000. After her death in June, the fund surpassed £7m in donations and currently stands at £7,564,546 at the time of writing.

In her first interview since Deborah died, Heather told BBC Breakfast in August that Deborah was given “three to five days” to live when she was moved to hospice care, but lived for eight weeks.

She said: “That eight weeks was probably, in one way, the best eight weeks we’ve had together as a family, even though she died at the end of it.

“How can you not love what she did in that eight weeks? It did help knowing other people loved her and wanted to help in any way they could.”

Deborah is survived by her parents, Heather and Alastair, her husband Sebastien Bowen and their two children, 14-year-old Hugo and 12-year-old Eloise.