How Deborah James is continuing to save lives after death as interest in cancer sites surge following death
VISITS to the NHS bowel cancer website shot up ten-fold after Dame Deborah James died of the disease this week.
Sun writer Dame Debs campaigned fiercely to boost awareness of the illness before passing away aged just 40 on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, online searches for NHS information about the cancer rocketed to 23,274 compared to just 2,000 the day before.
NHS England boss Amanda Pritchard said: “Dame Deborah James is an inspiration to us all and her death this week has touched the nation.
“Bravely speaking out about her personal journey has prompted thousands more people to check the symptoms. There is no doubt about it — this has been lifesaving.”
It comes as viewers were “left sobbing” as BBC documentary Deborah James: The Last Dance on Thursday showed her waltzing to Beauty and the Beast’s Their Tale As Old As Time with 14-year-old son Hugo.
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She wore a yellow ball gown like Belle from the Disney film as Hugo gave her a twirl.
It was cut with clips of them doing the same dance shortly after her diagnosis in 2016 when Hugo was eight.
Mum-of-two Debs spent her final months with her family and raised £7.1million — which The Sun is campaigning to get to £10million — for Cancer Research.
Around 43,000 Brits a year are diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Genevieve Edwards, chief exec of Bowel Cancer UK, said: “Traffic to bowelcanceruk.org.uk has never been higher, with tens of thousands more people seeking information in recent days.”
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