Dame Deborah James' husband Sebastien Bowen recently shared an uplifting comment after his wife revealed she is receiving end-of-life care for her bowel cancer.
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Known to many as Bowel Babe, Deborah – who has set up the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK and raised over £6.3million – was recently awarded a Damehood by Prince William. Speaking of the royal's "surreal" visit to The You, Me And The Big C podcaster's home, Seb said: "It has brought a piercing ray of light and hope into this, the darkest of times."
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To mark the occasion, Deborah – who was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer in December 2016 – posed for a photo with the Duke and told her Instagram followers: "Prince William actually came to our family house today!! I am utterly honoured that he joined us for afternoon tea and champagne, where he not only spent a generous amount of time talking to my whole family but also honoured me with my Damehood.
"It’s quite surreal having a royal pop in at home, and yes you can imagine the cleaning antics and preparation went off the scale - but it was all irrelevant because William was so kind and he put us all at ease.
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Deborah was awarded a Damehood by Prince William
"He is clearly passionate about improving oncology outcomes as the President of the Royal Marsden. It was such a special day for my whole family, making memories to last a life time. He’s welcome back any time!"
Deborah and Seb got engaged at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew in December 2007, and they wed the following year. To mark their thirteenth wedding anniversary in 2021, Deborah posted a sweet video of the pair dancing at sunset and gushed about her husband, who she described as her "rock."
Deborah and Seb got engaged in Kew Gardens
"13 Years of marriage. My Rock. It was our wedding anniversary earlier this week. Some days the weight of what that means in an uncertain future can be too much."
She added: "Sebastien - Thank you for holding my hand in the darkness and dancing me back into the light. I love you. Always."
In a column for The Sun back in 2018, Deborah opened up about how her cancer diagnosis impacted her marriage.
Bowel Babe marked her thirteenth wedding anniversary with this video
She candidly explained that nobody has a fairytale relationship, adding: "You might find, like I did, that cancer is the wake up call to realising you have a pretty good thing going on.
"It made me realise that not only do I actually really like my husband - and fancy him - but he is without doubt the glue that holds me together and picks us all back up."
The couple share children, Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12.
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