Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: TV And Film, Health
Gregory Robinson
Dame Deborah James’ final TV appearance aired on Thursday (16 June) night as she discussed bowel cancer in an effort to ‘smash the poo taboo’. Watch below:
The 40-year-old author and blogger, who is known to her followers as Bowel Babe, promoted her Embarrassing Bodies appearance on Instagram.
Deborah spoke candidly with GP Dr Tosin Ajayi-Sotubo about her bowel cancer diagnosis five years ago, telling the doctor it was the ‘last thing she was expecting’ at 35 years of age.
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She also dispelled the myth that bowel cancer is an ‘old man’s disease’ as she had previously thought in the hope it would help others spot the signs early.
She explained: "I started going to the poo - we need to say that - eight times a day. And I used to be a once-a-day kind of girl.
"Then I started getting really tired and I remember drinking loads of cups of coffee just to try and keep myself awake.
"Then I started losing loads of weight and I started having blood in my poo."
She told Dr Tosin that it was this moment she had a ‘gut instinct that something wasn’t right’.
She then urged viewers to talk about poo and reminded everyone watching that ‘our favourite celebrities poo’ which is why we should talk about it more.
Deborah opened up about filming the episode on Instagram, telling her 962,000 followers: “I recorded this with the Embarrassing Bodies team a good while ago but it’s out tonight.
“Tonight I join the #EmbarassingBodies team to discuss some simple but important ways of detecting early bowel cancer symptoms.”
She told her Instagram followers after the episode aired: “Thanks for tuning into @e4grams and #embarassingbodies tonight. Obviously, just to remind you, it was filmed a while ago in case you are wondering how I’m so spritely!”
Deborah was previously diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and was keeping her fans updated through her Instagram account ‘Bowel Babe’.
She is receiving end of life care at her parents’ home in Woking, Surrey after announcing last month that she would no longer be pursuing active care.
Deborah has also revealed that she's set to have her second book How To Live When You Could Be Dead published.
The book has been fast tracked with a publication date now set for 18 August 2022, after a date in January 2023 was originally set.
All of Deborah's royalties will go into the Bowel Babe fund and publisher Penguin has agreed to make an additional contribution per each copy sold, meaning altogether the donation per book will be £3.
You can donate to the Bowel Babe fund here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week