I don’t know if any of you saw Deborah James: Bowelbabe In Her Own Words, which was shown on BBC2 this week.
It was a documentary where Deborah herself did most of the talking. It showed footage from the past five years, from her diagnosis of bowel cancer at the age of 35 to her subsequent death in June 2022.
Most of us felt like we knew Deborah, due to her honesty and regular updates on social media.
She brought so much awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer because she stressed how important it was not to be shy or embarrassed to talk about something we all have to do.
Bowelbabe: Deborah James saved lives by spreading awareness
Bodily functions can become a taboo subject but that’s why people perhaps are embarrassed to visit the loo when they need to if not at home or they don’t want to discuss symptoms with their doctor.
Deborah wanted us all to talk about poo. She knew it would save lives. She also knew it was too late for her but she still wanted to campaign and raise as much awareness as she could.
The documentary gives us an insight into how it feels to have to deal with such a devastating diagnosis and gruelling treatment, and we are constantly in awe of her bravery and inspired by her sense of humour and sense of fun in the face of adversity.
We want to remain ignorant
In the film Deborah is mesmerising, joyful and charismatic and talks so incredibly articulately about what is actually happening to her physically and mentally.
In many ways we don’t want to watch, we want to remain ignorant, but somehow Deborah shares her story with us in a way that although tough for anyone going through something similar, it makes us grateful. Grateful for our health, grateful for the lives Deborah will have saved and grateful to her family for sharing this inspiring woman’s story with us one more time.
What struck me most profoundly was that no matter what pain and sickness she went through she just wanted to live a little while longer. When many of us think we would want to just close our eyes, Deborah seized every moment of life.
We owe it to her to realise how lucky those of us who are healthy are.
It was all the more poignant for me to watch as it was the same day as Gordon’s six-monthly cancer review. We got very positive news and are so thankful for that.
Everyone with a cancer diagnosis lives from scan to scan or appointment to appointment. But somehow, although those scan days loom large, you have to live your life with hope.
Deborah spoke about how she never lost her sense of hope right up to the end.
Dame Deborah James – what a woman!
So this week I’ve started to get busy with press interviews, podcasts and TV shows to talk about Scotland Sings. This includes The Big Interview with Neil Drysdale in today’s weekend edition of The P&J.
Bowelbabe airing on BBC Scotland
Yes it’s time!
The show is being aired on the BBC Scotland channel at 10pm on Thursday April 27 and is then repeated on BBC One Scotland on Sunday April 30.
The second episode airs on both the Thursday and Sunday again the following week.
As you know, I’m so proud of Scotland Sings and I’m so excited to share it with you at last.
When we started filming we had absolutely no idea who our choir members were going to be. I started viewing video entries and choosing singers, but of course at this point I hadn’t met them.
It’s not an understatement to say that myself and all the production team were blown away by the effect of the whole process on not just the singers but on all of us.
The whole premise of the show was to choose singers who could sing but also who would benefit from the experience.
We wanted people who needed this, people who hadn’t had the chance in life perhaps, or for whom life – or life’s events – had got in the way.
And oh my goodness we got that. There were tears, there were nerves and there were so many laughs.
We became a team.
We went through it together, every step of the way.
You will see their challenges, the ups and downs and you will get to know them all.
I can’t believe it’s on TV this week.
Fingers crossed that you enjoy it.
Have a good week – please watch!
Yvie x
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