TRAGIC newsreader George Alagiah shared a special bond with BBC colleague Dame Deborah James as they both battled bowel cancer.
The presenter told how a chance encounter with the popular podcaster remained fixed in his memory during his nine-year ordeal with the disease.
George Alagiah described Dame Deborah James as a ‘solace’ to him
Dame Deborah James and George Alagiah chatted as both battled bowel cancer
And he described her as “a beacon of light” as well as a “solace” to him.
George, who has died today aged 67, spoke fondly of Sun writer Dame Deborah who died in June last year at the age of 40.
Speaking last June, he said: “We had a mutual friend.
“When my cancer got into my lungs they arranged for us to have a conversation because it had got into hers too.”
He remembered phoning her while she was walking out of London‘s leading cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden in Kensington, after a regular scan to see whether her cancer was spreading.
While “that day it was okay”, he told her he would call back so she could rush home and tell family.
He went on: “But she stopped and talked to me for half an hour.
“I was so privileged to have had the chance to talk to her.”
When she died, George tweeted: “Knowing that Dame Deborah James was nearing the end of her journey here does not make her passing any easier to accept.
“She was a beacon, lighting the way for all of us living with cancer. Thank you for your example. Deborah, rest in peace now.”
And in a documentary about Dame Deborah last year after her death, he said: “For all of us living with cancer, I think we’re all aware that we don’t want to become a burden, so there’s a limited number of people that you can talk to.
“Deborah James was one of those for me.
“To share my dilemma, my fears, my wanting to cry with someone who I knew had gone through that and was going through it, was a kind of solace.
“Sharing is hugely important. When my moment to share came, I was lucky enough to have someone like Deborah James to talk to.”
He was speaking as part of a BBC documentary highlighting the incredible work Dame Deborah did before she passed away.
Dame Deborah James: The Last Dance told her story of being diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer and raising money for the cause.
Others contributing included her You, Me and the Big C friends and podcast hosts Lauren Mahon and Steve Bland, as well as celebrity presenter pals Lorraine Kelly and Gaby Roslin.
Dame Deborah raised a staggering £11.3million in the final seven weeks of her life, her family recently revealed.
When given just days to live, she launched the Bowelbabe Fund on May 9 last year with the aim of raising £250,000.
She wanted to fund vital research “to give one final f*** you to cancer, and give more Deborahs more time”.
Donations poured in, smashing her target in just a day – and seven weeks later when she died on June 28, the fund total stood at almost £7million.
