A TEARFUL Deborah James has told how she and her siblings are closer than ever in the final days of her battle with bowel cancer.
The inspirational campaigner, who last month revealed she was receiving end-of-life care, broke down as she described the “mind-blowingly” close relationship she shares with her brother and sister.
The 40-year-old – presented with a damehood by Prince William when he cleared his diary to visit her parents’ home – thanked Ben and Sarah for being her guiding light during her darkest time.
“It’s been the best our relationships have ever been,” she said, her voice cracking as she held back tears.
Dame Debs and her family have been focusing on the small things as her death draws inevitably closer.
This has included quiet time with her parents and a “girly sleepover” organised by sister Sarah last week.
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“I cried and cried — it was so special,” she said.
“We roped my brother Ben in, too. I love the picture of the three of us together.
“We’ve always been really close, but the last few weeks have been mind-blowing.
“It’s interesting, at the end of your life, who you want around you.”
As well as her siblings, Deborah has found her mum and dad to be “amazing”, and also her husband Seb and children Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12.
But it is Ben and Sarah who have been by her side whenever she needs them.
Debs, who has raised a staggering £6.6million for charity, said: “My parents have been amazing, Seb and the kids too.
“But, oh my God, my sister and brother . . . I couldn’t be doing this without them.
“It makes me so emotional, I’m going to cry. They are incredible.
“We started our lives together and now, in my final days, they are here with me, they get me.
“They are probably two of the only people I haven’t told to ‘f*** off’ this week.
“I can’t really describe how they are getting me through this.”
Deborah’s honest account of having bowel cancer has touched the hearts of the nation – and the Royal Family.
She said she was “lost for words” after the Duke of Cambridge personally visited her home to personally present her with her Damehood – as well smashing her original fundraising target of £250,000.
In just five days, thousands of people donated more than £5.5m to the 40-year-old’s Bowelbabe fund for Cancer Research UK.
And this has shot up to £6.6m in the weeks since.
Deborah launched the JustGiving page, urging people to buy her a drink, on May 9 when she revealed she was on hospice care at her parent’s house in Surrey.
She said her body was “no longer playing ball” after medics did all they could to treat her stage four disease.
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Now, the campaigner is trying to make every moment matter.
She has had a rose named after her, launched a fashion collection, had her very own Lego mini-me delivered to her and raised millions of pounds.
TO DONATE to BowelBabe Fund visit www.bowelbabe.org
