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RIP Deborah Orr

131 replies

myrtleWilson · 20/10/2019 21:38

Am shocked, I knew she was ill but never expected this so soon.

Her tweets about her ex being an arse when she was at her lowest were heartbreaking and her joy at seeing reviews of her book was infectious.

RIP

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11
GrimDamnFanjo · 21/10/2019 01:56

Her writing punctuated my life. Gone too soon.

BitOfFun · 21/10/2019 02:03

I'm terribly sad to hear this: we had chatted a little on Twitter, as our symptoms were similar. She was really a lovely lady, and I admired her verve and spirit.

JustTurtlesAllTheWayDown · 21/10/2019 06:36

Oh no, so sorry to hear it. Much love to her loved ones Flowers

RochelleGoyle · 21/10/2019 07:39

So sad. Glad she'd seen the wonderful review of her book. RIP brilliant woman.

RoyalCorgi · 21/10/2019 08:13

She seemed quite perky in her last tweets but she did also mention having an infection, I don't know what stage of cancer she was at.

Stage 4. She had a terrible, shocking experience - a few years ago she had breast cancer, then about 14 months ago she started going to her GP with severe back pains. Her GP surgery fobbed her off for a whole year until this August she was crippled with pain, was taken to A&E (I think) where it emerged that her cancer had metastasied to her bones. I've been following her tweets since then and I don't think she'd been out of hospital since that diagnosis, though she was moved from one of the London hospitals to the Royal Sussex, so she could be near her new home - though she never actually had the chance to move in.

It did seem clear to me from the tweets that she was fairly near the end, simply because they hadn't let her out of hospital. She also mentioned at one point that the hospital were talking about palliative care, which is something you normally only get in the last few weeks. Even so, it was a huge shock. It's such a loss, and must be unbearable for her children.

It is heartbreaking that so much went wrong for her in the last few years - her acrimonious split from Will Self and being sacked by the Guardian. I'm so sorry that she didn't live to see publication of her book, which by all accounts is wonderful.

SirVixofVixHall · 21/10/2019 08:48

Yes, I am very sad that she didn’t live to see her book out, it comes out in January.
How old are her sons ?
It is tragically young, she would have been a wonderful, fierce old lady.

Toorahtoorahaye · 21/10/2019 08:50

Gone way to soon and sounds like she lived a full and amazing life. She was tweeting just last week about being really ill with septicemia but thought the doctors were on top of it. Such a shame she had all that upset and stress about moving in the last few months of her life. Thoughts to her children, family and friends.

upaladder · 21/10/2019 08:53

I’ve absorbed her work over the years without knowing much about her. I will read her book ‘Motherwell’ with a heavy heart. I wish I’d known her as she sounded a good person to know. The range of people she knew and who valued her work and friendship crosses all sorts of political/ideological divides. It must have been such a privilege to know her.

Haworthia · 21/10/2019 08:55

She also said on Twitter that one of her sons sided with his father and had been abusive. I hope they were able to reconcile but considering how recent it was, who knows. What a horrible mess.

Floisme · 21/10/2019 10:05

Her tweets over the last few months have been absolutely compelling. She wrote about everything: her botched diagnosis and how she knew she was going to die, her book, her ex (if ever anyone had a surname straight from heaven it was Will Self), her broken family, her birthday, her house, the spring bulbs she had ordered. I think it's possibly the best celebration of life and death I've ever read.

I read Suzanne Moore's tweets this morning and they made me cry.

LangCleg · 21/10/2019 10:17

She transcended Will - as he always knew and feared she would.

ChattyLion · 21/10/2019 10:19

An impressive journalist Flowers her family and friends.

Ihaventgottimeforthis · 21/10/2019 10:31

Someone suggested we all pre-order her book and send it to the top of the bestseller list x

MrsSnippyPants · 21/10/2019 10:38

So sad to hear this news and sickened to see the gloating by a certain section of twitter Angry

Pota2 · 21/10/2019 10:38

Yes, she outshone Will in every way possible and like so many men who were raised to believe that they were better than women, he couldn’t stand it and tormented her to the end. Life really isn’t fair but so many people loved her.

There are also some disgruntled TRAs on twitter harping on about her supposed transphobia (she was no transphobe) but thankfully even their woke advocates like Dawn Foster and Patrick Strudwick are tweeting about how much they loved Deborah.

KatyCarrCan · 21/10/2019 10:55

I rarely agree with Patrick Strudwick about anything but his twitter thread about Deborah was beautiful.

upaladder · 21/10/2019 10:58

Yes it was very moving wasn’t it?

MsTSwift · 21/10/2019 11:04

My friend had exactly the same breast cancer treated pain in back a few years later but as soon as she got pain in her back the doctors were on it. She was terminal but had amazing care from st barts and had 5 good years of life due to her palliative treatment before dying at 43. Appalling Deborah did not receive this level of care too.

Pota2 · 21/10/2019 11:07

Agree. Surely bone metastasis should be the very first thing you test for in a woman with bone pain who has been previously treated for breast cancer, no matter how long ago. Arses.

Herocomplex · 21/10/2019 11:13

Fucking cancer. I’ll miss her on Twitter.

I think Strudwick’s little outpouring is a bit hard to take actually.

NoSquirrels · 21/10/2019 11:19

Floisme yes to all that.

My mum had the same missed diagnosis of breast cancer recurrence- she is Stage 4 but we have had 5 years since and hipe for more. Her tweets about being so breathless she couldn’t speak hit me so hard- I remember sitting next to my mum as she struggled to catch her breath and feeling so scared.

I am deeply saddened.

SirVixofVixHall · 21/10/2019 11:24

Strudwick ?

NoSquirrels · 21/10/2019 11:28

Julie Bindel on Twitter:
If there were to be an award for self-aggrandising hypocrisy decided today, the judges would have to do a Booker and give it to both Owen Jones and Patrick Strudwick. Those of you that know will know exactly what I mean.

RoyalCorgi · 21/10/2019 11:34

So sad to hear this news and sickened to see the gloating by a certain section of twitter

Really? God, some people are absolutely unspeakable.

Floisme · 21/10/2019 11:37

NoSquirrels Flowers

For me the most compelling and also the most authentic part was the sheer rage. From what I've seen, that's what dying is really like but it gets sanitised.