Dame Deborah James shared some heartfelt life lessons in a letter for her children before her death.
The podcast host, author and campaigner died in June aged 40, five years after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
James worked hard up until her final days to urge people to be aware of the symptoms of bowel cancer and she posted updates about her treatments and life on Instagram as ‘Bowelbabe’.
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Before she passed away, the mum-of-two wrote a letter to her children; Hugo, 14 and Eloise, 12 - who she shared with her husband Sebastien Bowen - to encourage them to ‘take chances’ and ‘marry only for love’.
The touching final letter is in the James’ upcoming book, How To Live When You Could Be Dead, which is due to be published later this month.
In the book, James will discuss meeting her husband Sebastien as well as their marital challenges and her hopes for the future.
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“I never quite knew if you could really have a love of your life, but I now know what the very core of unquestioned love is between two people,” James wrote according to an extract published by The Sun.
“I have always loved my husband”.
She also told her children to ‘be brave’ and to ‘be your number one cheerleader’.
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She also urged Eloise and Hugo to appreciate and find happiness in the small things in life after writing that she started to appreciate nature more towards the end of her life.
She wrote: “Each day, do things that make you happy – build them into your life and never criticise others for the things that make them happy.”
James raised over £7 million for cancer research through the Bowelbabe Fund, before being honoured as a Dame.
The money will be used to help fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients as well as supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
James’ final days were filmed and broadcasted in the BBC documentary Deborah James: The Last Dance in June.
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In the documentary, her family were filmed as they spent precious time with their loved one before she passed away.
She was also interviewed about the fund in the documentary where she said: "Before I died, the one thing I knew I wanted to do is set up a fund that can continue working on some of the things that gave me life."
How To Live When You Could Be Dead will be released on 18 August. You can donate to Deborah's 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
Topics: News
Gregory Robinson