‘Thought you’d go on’ Bill Turnbull reacts to Deborah James’ fight amid his cancer battle | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV
Former BBC Breakfast host Bill Turnbull, who has been battling prostate cancer since he was diagnosed in November 2017, reacted to Deborah James’ sad news. The BBC podcaster shared she is unsure how long she has left as her health worsened.
The 40-year-old explained her body is no longer “playing ball” after medical professionals have tried everything.
The Classic FM DJ, who temporarily stepped back from his radio duties last year, has reached out to Deborah in an emotional post.
It comes after the blogger took to Twitter and shared a tearful message, in view of her 47,500 followers yesterday.
She penned: “The tweet I never wanted to write. The time has come to say goodbye.
READ MORE: BBC’s Deborah James bids farewell as she moves to hospice at home care
“Five years to prepare, doesn’t make it any easy. I’m under hospice at home care, & I’m spending my time surrounded by my family. Please buy me a drink to see me out and raise vitial funds.”
The BBC presenter shared a link to a bowel charity where people can donate funds.
Bill took the opportunity to respond as he admitted he believed Deborah would continue in life due to her “courage and resilience”.
In view of his 113,000 followers, he penned: “Oh dear. I thought that thanks to your courage and resilience, you would go on and on. You have done so well. Wishing you peace and comfort, and lots of love.”
Bill joined Classic FM as a radio presenter in 2016, but in October 2021, he announced he would be stepping down from the role due to “health reasons”.
He took to Twitter to share the news, writing: “With great regret, I am taking a leave of absence from my show @classicfm, for health reasons. The road has been a bit bumpy recently, and I need to take some time to focus on getting better.”
He added: “I’m sorry to do this, as I absolutely love doing the programme, and have hugely enjoyed the past five years. I am very grateful to friends and colleagues @global for the love and support they have shown me. And I will be back, just as soon as I can be.”
Bill had been diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer and had previously shared he required treatment which included a radioactive isotope injected into him once every six weeks.
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Deborah built up an enormous fanbase since she was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer in 2016, which went on to become stage four, meaning it was incurable.
The BBC podcast host has been the face of the No Butts campaign, helping people to spot the signs of bowel cancer early, and has now set up a fund for bowel cancer charities, called the Bowelbabe Fund.
Deborah has two children – Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, with her banker husband Sebastien Bowen.
She recently appeared on Lorraine, where she vowed she was “going to get through this” and explained how she desperately wished she had caught her cancer sooner.
The mum-of-two has since taken to Instagram and admitted she has been left in tears after being inundated with support over the course of just 12 hours.
Taking to her stories, she wrote: “I’m utterly blown away by your generosity over the last 12 hours! To think you have raised over £600k for vital research is just filling me with so much love. You are the kindest people. Thank you.”
In a follow-up post, Deborah shared a screenshot that showed £642,930 had been raised so far.
She commented: “I never in my wildest dreams thought we’d be waking up to this total 12 hours later. I’m actually crying because I know we can continue to help fund some vital projects @cr_uk, @royalmarsden and @bowelcanceruk with this money.”
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