A UK podcast host has said a final goodbye to her Instagram followers following six years of treatment for bowel cancer.
“My body can’t take it anymore,” Deborah James confessed in a moving post on the social network, where she noted that he doesn’t know how long he has left to live.
Deborah James is the presenter of the BBC podcast You, Me and the Big C (alluding to the c for cancer), which deals with the day-to-day life of people with the disease.
She stated that the last six months have been “heartbreaking” for her, but that she is “surrounded by love”.
“The message I never wanted to write”
James was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and has since published several posts regarding his treatment for his more than 300,000 Instagram followers.
In December she reflected on the five years that had passed since her terminal cancer diagnosis: “I am fully aware that I should not be alive to write this today.”
But, in one new instagram post mondayassured to be publishing “the message I never wanted to write”.
James said he had already stopped therapy for his cancer and was now focusing on avoiding pain and being able to spend time with his “wonderful family”.
“No one knows how much time I have left, but I can’t walk, I sleep most of the day, and most of the things I thought were guaranteed are now distant dreams,” he said.
“I know we are looking at all the possibilities. But even with all the innovative cancer treatments in the world, or even if there were a magical new breakthrough, my body just can’t keep up«.
day by day, step by step
The presenter announced that the Bowelbabe fund, named following her Instagram account, will be created to finance personalized medicine research for cancer patients and support colon cancer awareness campaigns.
James began hosting the podcast in 2018 You, Me and the Big Cwhich received many accolades for frankly addressing the subject of cancer.
Rachel Bland, another of the presenters, died at the age of 40, six months following the launch of the program. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer two years earlier.
In her Instagram post, James said: “Right now, for me, the goal is to go day by day, step by step, and be grateful for each new dawn.”
“My whole family is around me and we’re going to dance together, sunbathe and laugh (I’m going to cry!!) whenever possible!”
He also thanked his followers for “playing their part in my journey” before signing off with the words: “No regrets. Enjoy life».
