Does anyone follow Deborah James? (AKA Bowel Babe)

[NoWigNoWit]

www.instagram.com/bowelbabe/p/CYr47RBoWRv/?utm_medium=share_sheet

I’ve been following her for a few years now and this is her latest update. She’s such an incredible and inspirational woman.

I don’t know her whatsoever but it’s made feel sad reading this and I have everything crossed for her she makes a speedy recovery.

(Not sure if this will link!)

[quote Daisy95]@SouthernFashionista why?? Because she's trying to actually live and enjoy her life? shes been through hell and still has a smile on her face? I cannot fathom your thinking behind your comment? i literally can't think why anyone would have anything negative to say about her? [/quote]
I'm not a cancer sufferer but I can totally imagine that anyone who isn't dancing around, doesn't feel up to putting on make up or making reels might feel inadequate or not doing cancer “right” and somehow failing

I absolutely think she should deal with it in the best way for her but I dont think it's hard to see a possible negative for others.

I don't think that's right @Holly60 im pretty sure I've heard her talking about private health care on her podcast. Obviously she does have NHS treatment but I don't think that's all she has.

Bit much really to be slating a really poorly woman tbh, can you not read and run? I think the thread was created to be supportive.

@Floundery

I’m not a fan either. Massive show off, tasteless, lacking insight and a completely inaccurate portrayal of the treatment most of the plebs get on the NHS. I speak as someone diagnosed even younger than Deborah who recovered fully.

Dangerously and weirdly self-obsessed woman.

Where did you have your cancer treatment @Floundery ? Which part of the U.K.? I am one of the so called ‘plebs‘ you are talking about ....Having completed treatment.....I remain under the care of An NHS cancer hospital for yearly checks. where I live oncology services are feckin amazing....My local cancer hospitals ( in NW) provide outstanding treatment and care.... of course I am speaking from experience....I have had primary cancer 3 times now so have met many many others over the years....and not heard anyone speak with anything but praise for NHS cancer care? I have known several people who have started off with private treatment and then transferred over to NHS care as 1. The private treatment eg surgery had a longer wait then the NHS ....and 2. The private treatment was carried out in the same settings by the same consultant. I am sorry you have had a poor experience of cancer care where you live

Wow why would anyone feel the need to be negative about her?! Fair enough people deal with things in different ways - and she acknowledges this- but she’s hardly hurting anyone, and she’s probably saved countless lives by raising awareness in making bowel cancer more high profile by the very fact she is the way she is!

My mum and Gran died of bowel cancer. My uncle has it. It runs in our family. I will probably die of it. Bowel babe is one of the very few accounts I enjoy following because she is inspiring and uplifting. It gives me hope. Hope that there is life after a terminal diagnosis and hope that bowel cancer might get more research and more funding.

Take your pissy parade and piss somewhere else.

I’ve messaged her a few times about kidney issues trying to help with medication issues (as I have multiple chronic health issues and we take some of the same medications) and she’s always been lovely.

Sorry I went on a rant there but seriously the woman is seriously ill and nearly died…!

@Bagelsandbrie

Sorry I went on a rant there but seriously the woman is seriously ill and nearly died…!

Don’t apologise....I agree with you....if you’ve nothing nice to say, read and run....Deborah James has incurable cancer....she will live the rest of her life ( however long or short it may be) with cancer...she will die with cancer....she gets through it in her own way...as does everyone else in this position.....why anyone who be so fucking vile as to post stuff about her on here when they know nothing about her....and no even less about cancer ....I just don’t know. Shane on them I say

Shame

@Kitkat151 exactly. People need to have some compassion. She has two children as well and they may be reading comments about her. She isn’t just a random celebrity. She’s a woman, wife, mother and mostly a human being who is enduring one of the most horrendous things a person can go through.

@Holly60 I’m pretty certain the vast majority of her treatment is private, I know enough about cancer and the royal Marsden to know that’s true not least because lots of her shots are of the private treatment rooms there and because I know enough to know that some of the treatments she has had and the amount of operations / interventions she has had are highly unlikely to be offered even in the best NHS cancer units.

Having said that I do think she is an inspiration, she has shown that it is possible to live well with cancer and to still have a life. Having had a partner with terminal cancer her and her podcast and her gave me such inspiration and hope. she has also done loads to raise the profile of cancer in younger people as well as raising s lot of morey

If, as I believe, her treatment has been mainly private, I think she should be doing more to highlight the discrepancy in cancer care because like her I can vouch that when it comes to terminal cancer your chances of living well for longer are greatly enhanced for private patients who are treated by the best doctors in the best cancer centres who have access to the best treatments that either their insurance companies or they can pay for. That’s the elephant in the room and the reality of cancer care

I’m pretty sure she has had all her treatment on the NHS?

She definitely does not have her treatment on the NHS. The very sad reality is that if she was an NHS patient she almost definitely would no longer be with us.

@Omicrone sadly I think this is very true. It’s a sad state of affairs

I think a lot of people who have/have had cancer find her content quite difficult to engage with. Her life, including her treatment which has been amazing and is definitely not the norm, is very different to what most people with cancer experience.

@Omicrone

I’m pretty sure she has had all her treatment on the NHS?

She definitely does not have her treatment on the NHS. The very sad reality is that if she was an NHS patient she almost definitely would no longer be with us.

I do think she probably has a mix of private and NHS treatment and who can blame her…. It’s what any of us would do if we could. But I don’t think she has lied or been deceitful about whether she’s had private treatment or not. She hasn’t mentioned it and has focused on the treatment she’s had on the NHS and been grateful for that and that’s a good thing isn’t it?

The NHS systems are failing those with cancer in many, many ways. My Mum and Gran both went undiagnosed with bowel cancer until 6/8 weeks before they died. It was too late to do any sort of curative treatment for either of them.

My DM was admitted to one of those rooms in the RM. It was because we travelled there for a last-ditch attempt at experimental treatment, however on the day her lungs were such a mess that they suspected TB and quarantined get there. It's a world away from the NHS ward she ended up on when we finally got her closer to home.

I am rooting for DJ. It really is true to say though, that that level of treatment isn't available for the vast majority.

I don’t have a problem at all with what she has done but it’s disingenuous to mislead her followers that she is a full NHS patient. My late partner was a private patient at the Marsden. His treatment and care was a million miles away from what he would have had on the NHS even under the same team. We are well aware how lucky that was. He did have some NHS care, as he needed to be an NHS patient to be eligible for a trial but in reality he wasn’t a proper NHS patient; it was a paper exercise as he was still 100% under the team he chose himself who oversaw it all and managed his care

I struggle when I catch a glimpse of her on the news or social media. My best friend of 35 years was diagnosed at a similar age, with a similar presentations and stage of bowel cancer - having seen details of Deborah's treatment it's almost as if they lived on different planets. I used to spend days calling NHS oncology units when my friend was too sick to do so, begging them for callbacks, for help and support with the newest set of symptoms (not treatment, that was a luxury never offered). There were none of the cutting-edge or MDT-led treatment options that seem available to Deborah, or the expertise of the Royal Marsden. My darling friend died 14 months after her diagnosis.

So, yeah, it's not her fault and I applaud her persistence but to me it's a bleak reminder that if you don't have a public platform or private wealth then in the face of a cancer like that, your prognosis is very different.

Her treatment is privately funded not NHS and it’s a problem when her followers don’t know this or are made aware of it. It’s actually really important.

I'm quite surprised by some of the comments on here.

I'm not sure there is a "tasteful" or "appropriate" way to face imminent death is there? Surely it is a different experience for everyone?

And you still face being permanently separated from your family whatever your financial situation. I'm sure DJ would give up her riches in a minute if she could live.

And she has used her privilege to break some taboos and correct some false assumptions about cancer patients and to spread the word about the incidence of bowel cancer in the under 50s.

And hell,. if you can't seek some attention when you have stage four bowel cancer, and have run out of treatment options, then there is something seriously wrong with our world and the level of compassion in it.

I do think she probably has a mix of private and NHS treatment and who can blame her…. It’s what any of us would do if we could. But I don’t think she has lied or been deceitful about whether she’s had private treatment or not. She hasn’t mentioned it and has focused on the treatment she’s had on the NHS and been grateful for that and that’s a good thing isn’t it?

The vast majority of her treatment (the lung ablations, the cyberknife, a lot of the targeted drugs) has been private, they just aren't really options on the NHS or at least haven't been until very recently. She has had so many options that most cancer patients don't have access to.

I didn't even realise she was having private treatment until she very briefly mentioned it on the Panorama documentary she did and then it all fell into place how she had so much access to stuff.

I would never begrudge her any of it, we would all do it if we could. I don't really begrudge her all the ads either, if people want to part with their money because they saw her flogging an Emma mattress on Instagram, then that's on them.