Deborah James’s father: She would tell us to knock heads together in campaign

Dame Deborah James’s father has said his daughter would tell him to “knock some heads together” as her family urged all UK political parties to commit to a long-term cancer strategy.

Dame Deborah died in June 2022 at the age of 40, five years after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

She used her diagnosis to raise awareness of the disease and set up the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, which has raised more than £12 million.

Her family have now written an open letter urging all UK political parties to commit to a strategy “to give more people affected by cancer more time with the people they love”.

Her father Alistair James told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think this current strategy of early diagnosis saves lives and Deborah would be saying ‘Dad, it makes common sense. Just knock some heads together and see if we get everybody following it and working for it’.”

In a letter, Dame Deborah’s husband Sebastien Bowen, her parents Alistair and Heather James and her siblings Ben James and Sarah Wieczorek said they are joining Cancer Research UK in its Longer, Better Lives manifesto during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.

The manifesto calls for the Government to publish a long-term cancer strategy within one year of the general election, to “drive earlier diagnosis and reduce inequalities in access to treatment and care”.

“That is why we are calling on all political parties to make the upcoming general election a landmark moment by committing to a long-term cancer strategy for England, helping to give more people affected by cancer more time with the people they love,” the letter added.

“Sadly, we are not unique as a family in losing a loved one too soon to cancer.

“Many families across the country feel the same heartbreak every day. But it does not have to be this way.

“People affected by cancer must be at the heart of this general election.”

Mr James told Today the family promised Dame Deborah they would continue to campaign after her death.

He said: “Her campaigning, her enthusiasm was so important in getting a message across.

“And one of the things in her final days, a promise we made as a family to continue her legacy, which was both fundraising and the legacy and spreading the word.

“We knew we will be carrying on with this, it’s important that it continues. And Deborah provided us a platform and a voice. It’s important we continue to use that.

“We’re talking about our eldest child, which brings back many painful memories, but also many happy memories. And the thing is, we’re quite fortunate, Deborah might have died, but she lives in so many people’s thoughts and ideas, and we’re allowed to talk about it and share her. So I think we do get a benefit from it, as well as other people.”

He added: “In the early stages, we knew little about bowel cancer. We knew little about even what was causing it.

“Deborah was 35, she was fit, she was a vegetarian, I would be the person you’d expect to get bowel cancer, not her.

“It was so sad that her diagnosis was really towards the end of stage three when we found out about it.

“And we all know early diagnosis, stage one and two, you’ve got nine out of 10 chances to live.

“Sadly, stage three and four, that’s down to one out of 10 to live for five years.”

In the letter, Dame Deborah’s family described the You, Me And The Big C podcast host as having “smashed stigmas around cancer” as well as being a “passionate advocate of the importance of early diagnosis”.

“Diagnosing cancer at an earlier stage saves lives,” the family added.

They said the strategy should include increases in the NHS cancer workforce and investment in “vital diagnosis equipment to ensure everyone who needs it can access the right test, in the right place, at the right time”.

They added that there has been “little improvement” in the proportion of bowel cancers being diagnosed at an early stage over recent years and that targets are not being met due to the health service “not having the resources available to see cancer patients in a timely manner”.

“NHS England aims for 75% of patients who have been urgently referred to have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days. This has yet to be met for lower gastrointestinal cancers (which includes bowel)”, the letter added.

It comes weeks after analysis by the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK suggested that cases of bowel cancer are set to rise significantly by 2040.

Bowel cancer cases will rise from the 42,800 currently diagnosed cases each year to 47,700 due to a growing and ageing population, according to the analysis.