Dame Deborah James is an example of courage to millions – including an NHS worker whose mum died the same day.
Ambulance dispatcher Helen Smith is one of three people who tell today how the cancer campaigner’s kindness, honesty and dynamism touched their lives.
Helen, 42, had a video call with Deborah while working long hours during the pandemic and trying to cope with the sudden death of her dad Geoff aged 71 in 2020.
During their chat, the ‘Bowelbabe’ encouraged the mum of two, from Garforth, West Yorks, to stay strong and defeat adversity.
Helen said: “She was really positive about everything, and said that just because you are given bad news it doesn’t define who you are.”
Last Tuesday Helen’s mum Anne died aged 69 in hospital after getting sepsis following a fall.
She added: “It’s nice to think of them up there together.
“Deborah’s legacy is one of strength in adversity, and that’s how I am going to take this forward.”
Deborah is also a heroine to Rachel Woods, 53, who has incurable secondary breast cancer which has spread to her liver.
Rachel said lying in bed listening to her podcast You Me and the Big C, as she began six months of chemotherapy and lost her hair, had been a huge comfort.
Rachel recalled: “It gave me real people coping with the disease, living with it – while I was facing my own death.
“I loved Deborah, there was something about her – she was zesty, sexy, funny, courageous and unique.
“She not only gave me information and knowledge, she gave me someone to look to – and know I could do it too.”
Rachel, of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, married her partner of 10 years, crane operator Steve, 56, after her diagnosis. She has treatment every three weeks.
She said: “Watching Deborah’s pathway has been terrifying, knowing that is ahead of me. It’s a reminder I’m not getting out of this alive – but it’s about making the most of however long I live.
“Thanks to Deborah, I don’t see cancer as a fight, it’s something I need to dance with.”
Widower Pete Wallroth, who lost his wife Mair, 41, to cancer in 2012, 10 weeks after having their son, spoke candidly on Deborah’s podcast in 2019.
He said: “We spent most of the hour laughing about death and dying and having that entitlement to have that dark humour.
That candidness carried over to her campaigning.” Pete, 42, of Glossop, Derbys, who has remarried and had a third child, launched charity Mummy’s Star for those hit by cancer during and post pregnancy.
He added of Dame Deborah: “The legacy we’ve seen this week is only a snapshot – the true impact will come out as these years go by.”
Deborah’s death aged 40 after a six-year battle with bowel cancer has inspired thousands more to check for symptoms.
She was made a Dame in May and the Bowelbabe Fund for cancer research on JustGiving has now topped £7million.
