Bowelbabe fund has surpassed the £6 million milestone

Just days after being named a dame, Deborah James has raised over £6 million for her mission to discover a cure for cancer and to end the stigma around bowel disease.

The host of You, Me, and the Big C was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 and has been open about her treatment and diagnosis with hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.

The former schoolteacher was made a dame on Friday after The Duke of Cambridge personally presented the honour to her at her parents’ house in Woking, Surrey.

James, 40, expressed her gratitude to Prince William for joining her family for afternoon tea, but revealed that her “cleaning antics and preparation went off the scale” as she prepared for the royal visit.

Prince William and Kate had previously given to her cause, thanking her for her “unwavering efforts.”

James notified her fans last week that she had been relocated to hospice-at-home care to fight her terminal colon cancer, adding she didn’t know “how long I’ve got left” given that her body wasn’t “playing ball.”

She said that she had “turned every stone” in her hunt for a cure, but that even a “magic new breakthrough” would not help.

“We shall dance through this together, sunning and smiling at every available opportunity!” she stated, adding that she is spending the time with her family – including her two young children – at her parents’ house.

The mother-of-two stated on Saturday that she is “feeling weaker and more weary” and that she is operating on “pure adrenaline.”

“My family is great, and as emotional as it is, we are finding so much to smile about in the midst of the loss,” she added.

“When my time was up, I always stated I wanted to go in sideways with a huge smile, no regrets, and a big glass of champagne! That remains my objective!”

She told the BBC that she was coming to her parents’ house for her dying days so that her children’s recollections of her family home in London would be free of “medical equipment scars.”

The money generated will be used for clinical trials, research, and raising awareness of bowel cancer via James’s Bowelbabe contribution fund, which is partnered with Cancer Research UK.