Lorraine Kelly held back tears while speaking about her friend Deborah James this week.
Deborah, 40, shared in an emotional post to Instagram this week that, after living with bowel cancer for the last five years, her body 'just can't continue anymore' and she would be spending her final days in hospice care, surrounded by friends and family.
Watch below:
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, an emotional Lorraine admitted that she always thought her friend would 'bounce back'. Speaking to Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, Lorraine raved about Deborah's work to raise money towards Cancer Research.
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"She's amazing, isn't she? Absolutely astonishing," she said.
After sharing her devastating news with followers on Monday evening, Deborah asked people to donate to her new Bowel Babe fund, which she hoped would 'raise awareness and money for the charities that are closest to me,' including Cancer Research UK, Bowel Cancer UK, and Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
In just under 24 hours since her post, Deborah's fund has raised £1.1 million.
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Explaining the thought process behind Deborah's fund, Lorraine said: "This fantastic idea that we buy her a drink, and the money we would spend on the drink, we would put it into the Bowel Babe fund."
Watching the donations flood in in real-time, Lorraine appeared to get emotional as she admitted: "I thought, as I always do, that she would bounce back... but she's getting very well looked after by everybody that loves her. So we'll be talking about that today."
Sharing the news with her supporters on Monday, Deborah had said: "The message I never wanted to write. We have tried everything, but my body simply isn’t playing ball. My active care has stopped and I am now moved to hospice at home care, with my incredible family all around me and the focus is on making sure I’m not in pain and spending time with them."
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The You, Me And The Big C podcast host continued: "Nobody knows how long I’ve got left but I’m not able to walk, I’m sleeping most of the days, and most things I took for granted are pipe dreams.
"I know we have left no stone unturned. But even with all the innovative cancer drugs in the world or some magic new breakthrough, my body just can’t continue anymore."
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Concluding the post, she shared that her remaining time would be spent 'taking it a day at a time, step by step and being grateful for another sunrise'.
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"My whole family are around me and we will dance through this together, sunbathing and laughing (I’ll cry!!) at every possible moment! You are all incredible, thank you for playing your part in my journey. No regrets. Enjoy life x Deborah."
For more information and advice on bowel cancer, visit Bowel Cancer UK.
You can donate to the Bowel Babe fund here.
Featured Image Credit: ITV/@bowelbabe/InstagramTopics: Celebrity, Good Morning Britain
