Great Bookham Belles WI this week had a double celebration at their October 2018 meeting; we turned 4 and in doing so welcomed guest speaker Deborah James of @BowelBabe Fame who talked about her journey with bowel cancer.
At first glance one may be forgiven in thinking that this would not be a celebratory talk however not so with Deborah! Deborah James, a Deputy Headteacher and mother of 2, was 35 when she first discovered she had bowel cancer from that moment on her life changed considerably. From regular normality to uncertainty (it took various attempts to get the right diagnosis) to despair, anger and acceptance Deborah explained her rollercoaster journey of ‘living it up’ with stage 4 bowel cancer.
Deborah spoke of her family and friends, of the new friends she had met through having cancer and of those she had tragically lost to the disease. She explained that with their support she decided to live life to the full and is determined to spread the word in a ‘fun way’, to men and women, about a subject that no one wants to speak about, but should. She joked to us that, in an unlikely way, this path has led her to experience a variety of undertakings and lead a more varied life to the one she might otherwise had; with her cancer diagnosis came a career as a Sun Columnist and the birth of her Bowel Babe cartoon, a BBC radio 5 Live Podcast presenter, a fundraiser, a blogger, an interviewee on news programmes and in magazines and an author!
There was not one Belle who was not touched by this inspirational woman who spoke so candidly of her feelings. Her optimism was infectious and gave hope to us all and especially to those in our audience that have been touched by cancer, that life is still worth living and celebrating everyday:
‘You are stronger than you know, more positive than you ever thought and you can still LIVE with cancer.’
Deborah answered lots of questions at the end and signed copies of her book F*** you cancer! which is available from Amazon, before joining The Belles in celebrating our 4th Birthday with a beautiful cake, made by our talented Refreshments co-ordinator Jacky and prosecco Belles at the beginning of the evening had sung a enthusiastic rendition of Jerusalem, which could be heard out in the car park!