Dame Deborah James’ mum reveals she ‘brought her daughter’ to her son Benjamin’s recent ’emotional but beautiful wedding’ during Lorraine’s appearance

Deborah James’ mother Heather has revealed how she felt the presence of her daughter on her son Benjamin’s recent wedding day.

She made the comments while appearing on Lorraine this morning to discuss how it will continue its ‘No Butts’ campaign.

The campaign, which aims to raise awareness of bowel cancer, was launched in April 2021, with Dame Deborah appearing on the program to launch it.

Mother-of-two Deborah died aged 40 in June 2022 after a five-year battle with the disease.

Heather James, 66, from Surrey, responded today to Lorraine describing her daughter’s legacy as ‘amazing’.

She said: ‘Let’s hope…one day we can find the cure for this terrible disease.’

Heather added, “We get people checked earlier.”

Part of the No Butts campaign is the distribution of toilet rolls with bowel cancer information across the UK.

Lorraine said of the rolls: ‘(Deborah) would have loved (them) because towards the end she herself was fighting for this to happen…to get the message out about bog rolls.’

Heather noted that Deborah would be happy for Lorraine to continue the No Butts campaign and continue to raise awareness.

Dr. Hilary also appeared in the segment to discuss the campaign as well as discussing some of the symptoms of bowel cancer.

He revealed that a 10 per cent increase in colon cancer cases is expected in the next 15 years, “going from 42,800 now to around 47,000 in 15 years”.

The doctor continued: ‘So it’s really important that we raise awareness.

‘(Heather via the charity Bowel Babe) spends a lot of money on research into the causes of early bowel cancer and the detection of early bowel cancer.

“This will go a long way, but of course we still have our leaflets telling people (about the symptoms) if they are too young to get screening tests.”

Dr. Writing what people should look out for, Hilary continued: “Look for blood in the stool…any obvious change in your bowel habits lasting more than three weeks, any weight loss that you can’t easily explain, any extreme tiredness and lumps in the stomach or pain in the stomach again that you cannot explain’.

While on the show, Heather also talked about her son Benjamin’s wedding, which took place in Barbados recently.

She said: ‘Of course it was emotional but it was also so beautiful. We took Deborah with us.’

Heather continued, “She was there and everyone raised one or two, even three glasses of Champagne to her.”

She also discussed how Ben popped the question to his then-fiancée Ashley after the family met Prince William in 2022 – and even he asked why the pair hadn’t married.

After proposing, Deborah revealed the happy news on Instagram, writing: ‘Ashley Hall and Benjamin James have finally “put a ring on it”. I cried and cried…Even Prince William asked my brother why he hadn’t done it yet.’

Posting a gallery of pictures online, the mother-of-two wrote: ‘He finally put a ring on it! Congratulations to @benjaminrjames and @ashleyclairehall for finally getting engaged after 11 years!

‘If you’ve ever followed my podcasts, bro banter is all the rage and even Prince William recently got in on the action!

‘The question to my brother has always been, why haven’t you proposed! As a family everyone knew they both wanted to, it wasn’t like it was off the cards, it just always seemed to be about “the right time”.’

She continued: ‘So they finally did it and then facetimed me from Cornwall and saw friends all afterwards – my mouth was still hanging open for the rest of the day!

‘Couldn’t be prouder to finally say @ashleyclairehall is going to be my sister-in-law – I love her. And she makes @benjaminrjames happy which is all that matters and vice versa.’

Deborah added: ‘Of course I’m sad I won’t be watching the wedding, but it gave me an excuse to have my last impromptu party (and I even sat at the table for a bit of it!).’

The family continued to celebrate with a fabulous meal outside to mark the occasion, with Deborah writing: ‘With the help of my sister and niece – it was days with @cricut, kids baked a cake and exploded a mess and I tracked down all the last minute silver fairy lights i could find!

‘I love curating sideboards and parties and although it was the last thing in me, Eloise has really surpassed me so I feel happy to be able to pass on the party train property! A memory made without us even trying to make it a memory! Win!

‘Luckily the rain just held off and my body stayed awake for a few hours! Ashley officially welcome to a slightly crazy family, but we couldn’t be happier to have you here.’

Following Deborah’s death, Benjamin thanked his ‘big sister Debs’ for helping him ‘find a life worth enjoying’ in an emotional tribute to the cancer fighter.

He posted the heartfelt words on Instagram ahead of her funeral in July 2022, saying her legacy would ‘live on forever’.

He accompanied the touching words with a selection of pictures of the pair showing their close bond, including a photo of them running the Race for Life, which raises funds for cancer research.

Benjamin wrote: ‘Big sister Debs. Thank you for teaching me to live life to the fullest since the day I was born – you made me find life worth enjoying!

‘Saying goodbye is never easy, but knowing that you achieved more than any of us could ever dream of…and so much more…makes it a little more bearable.

‘Your legacy will live on forever and we will do our best to make you proud. Take it easy up there. Here’s to you x.’

Dame Deborah, a podcast host and mother of two who became known as Bowelbabe – after her social media presence – died aged 40 on 28 June 2022 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016.

After being diagnosed with cancer aged 35, she became a viral sensation through her social media content as she danced her way through chemotherapy and lived with ‘rebellious hope’.