INSPIRATIONAL Sun columnist Dame Deborah James died tonight from bowel cancer aged just 40.
She wanted people of all ages to know the warning signs of the devastating cancer – to catch cases sooner and prevent more deaths.
The mum-of-two was just 35 years old when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer, making her one of 42,000 cases in the UK that year.
She had changed bowel habits for a year, as well as weight loss, fatigue and passing blood, before she finally got her diagnosis.
Deborah tirelessly worked to get people to understand the symptoms – and what could be a red flag.
She wanted to use her illness to ensure others knew when they needed to have a health check and therefore get diagnosed quickly.
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The mum set up a fundraiser when she revealed she was stopping active care.
Within three days of being launched it raised more than £3.5million – to be split between Cancer Research UK, Bowel Cancer UK and the Royal Marsden.
She told 5 Live: “I always knew before I died I wanted to do one last thing, a swansong if you want to say, which was ensure that I used my platform that I built up over five years and wonderful connections and wonderful people that I’ve worked with to be able to raise as much money for research into cancer.
“Because… that’s what we need, what we need to stop things like this happening.”
“I just knew that I wanted to ensure that I could leave enough money for them to do something meaningful with, that would mean that we could fund projects that I myself would have benefited from five years ago to give me life.
“Because you just never know do you, when that next breakthrough is going to come but I knew we have the skills and passion in this country to make things happen, but we just need to fund it properly.”
Having been diagnosed with bowel cancer, Deborah was determined to ensure everyone knew what to spot, and to talk about it.
Bowel cancer is the UK’s fourth most common cancer and the second deadliest.
In one of her columns for Trending In The News, she wrote: “By talking about cancer, in all its guises, we make it more normal.
“We can break down taboos and stop people feeling embarrassed.
