Dame Deborah’s husband ‘held her hand’ for two nights before she slipped away

Dame Deborah James’ husband Sebastien Bowen has opened up about his wife’s final days in a heartbreaking new interview.

Deborah raised over £7million for bowel cancer research before passing away in June at the age of 40.

In a touching interview with The Times, Sebastien has described his wife’s struggles and the magical days they spent together with children Hugo, 14 and 12-year-old Eloise.

Sebastien, 42, became Deborah’s carer at her parents home in Woking, where she died. He recalled watching as his wife became more frail and “barriers broke down.”

“She was so weak she couldn’t do much on her own. At the end she was paralysed from the waist down. She couldn’t go to the kitchen to get food or clean or dress herself,” he explained.


“It brought us closer to her and to each other as Hugo brushed her hair or Eloise fetched her drinks. We were our raw selves. There was complete honesty.”

Sebastien then described Deborah’s strength as she began to slip away.

“We made lunch and Deborah was being as bossy as ever, telling us what to do. Then at teatime she started to slip away.”

She was floating in and out of consciousness, he said, and he didn’t leave her side.

“I slept with her all of Sunday and Monday night, holding her hand, but she wasn’t really there. On Tuesday her eyes opened and she came back into the room for a moment, and then she was gone within 15 minutes, with her sister, mother and father also surrounding her. Everyone was able to tell her how much they adored her.”

Deborah lives on in her family’s lives, and, Sebastien said, he still feels her now.

“The moment she stopped breathing, I weirdly felt her presence and love enveloping the family and the kids and that hasn't stopped.”

Upon her diagnosis in 2016, Dame Deborah vowed to raise awareness to help others spot and tackle Bowel Cancer sooner.

The star’s podcast, You, Me and the Big C, scooped the Champion Award at the British Podcast Awards in July. Fellow host Lauren Mahon paid tribute to Deborah, saying: “The podcast is our happy place. It’s a bit surreal to be standing here without both my girls [Rachel Bland passed away in 2018]. We knew this was a risk, that some of us would die when we started it, but we wanted to continue to champion it.

“I’m so proud to say that this is for Dame Deborah F**king James!”

READ MORE:

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