Deborah James touched the heart of the nation when she fundraised and raised awareness for bowel cancer while battling the disease herself. The former journalist sadly died earlier in 2022 and now her family, including two teenage children, are experiencing their first Christmas without her.
Heather, Deborah's mother, appeared on the ITV morning show Lorraine which is hosted by Lorraine Kelly where Lorraine became emotional. While Deborah was alive Lorraine and the show supported Deborah's fundraising efforts and Deborah often appeared on the show.
Lorraine was reduced to tears when Heather was talking about Deborah as she explained that although at times she wanted to hide away for Christmas they were determined to celebrate as it is what Deborah would have wanted. Heather said: “It’s very hard. I think it’s hard for anybody who has lost anybody, but Deborah loved Christmas. She was So into it! The build-up to it, the enthusiasm, the sparkles and have I got that energy? I try, for her. Part of me would like to not do it, but that’s not what she wanted.”
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Clips show Heather and Deborah's sister and sister-in-law prepping Christmas table decorations. Heather said: “We tried to make table decorations last week and I did it with my other daughter and my future daughter-in-law. We cracked open the champagne, I drank most of it! I knew Deborah would say, ‘Mum, that’s great that you’re doing this.’"
At the end of the segment Lorraine could be heard coughing and then seen wiping her tears away, as she spoke to the camera with tears in her eyes. She said: "The amount that she (Deborah) achieved was astonishing".
As also explained on the show supermarket giant Tesco is now featuring symptoms of bowel cancer on their toilet roll packaging, to help continue raising awareness.
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