The mum of Dame Deborah James appeared on BBC Breakfast today (August 16) and revealed her daughter’s heartbreaking confession before her death.
Heather James said that her daughter confessed that she ‘didn’t want to die’ in a late-night chat before her death.
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Deborah James’ mum
Heather expressed in the interview: “The hardest thing was knowing that she was going to die and, as a mother, knowing I couldn’t do anything about it.
“She did say, ‘I don’t want to die’. And that’s the hardest, saddest part.”
“She went ‘I have no regrets’, and I went, ‘That’s brilliant,’ how many people could say that? But she did say I don’t want to die. And that’s the hardest, saddest part.”
Heather told BBC Breakfast: “I still find that amazing that she had the love of the people out there, and that meant a lot, it’s meant a lot to the family, and it still does.”
When asked if the support from followers helped, Heather said: “Yes. I think I could not have coped… we were given three to five days; Deborah lived eight weeks.
“Even though she died at the end of it, how can you not love what she did in that eight weeks?”
Deborah James’ book
Heather also revealed that Deborah spent her final days finishing her second book.
Her book is titled ‘How to live when you could be dead’ and it includes details about her cancer battle.
Heather stated: “That must have been the toughest to write for her, because she knew she only had days left.
“She could still have the beautiful ability to write right up to the end.”
Since Deborah’s death in June, a record number of people have visited their doctor to get checked for bowel cancer, according to NHS data.
Around 170,500 people have been referred for bowel cancer checks since May.
The number of people referred between May and July has increased by 30,000 since last year.
Read more: Deborah James’ fears for her kids and ‘secret’ she kept from them ahead of her death revealed
‘How to live when you could be dead’ will be available to buy from August 18.
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