rivers2cross

Remembering Deborah James, who I was fortunate enough to meet on this day in 2017. Debs, a mum to Grace, sadly died of bowel cancer on July 27^th 2017.

We came into contact on social media in 2015 and we stayed in regular contact. Debs was one of the first people to agree to be in my last fundraising book, The Record. We met just a few months before she died at the Sixfields Leisure Park in Northampton. At that time Debs was still very positive and determined to do everything she could to stay healthy and live as long as possible in spite of an awful prognosis. She told me that when she was younger, she said she would live to be 100, and with her lovely infectious laugh she then said that it was still possible. In fact, Deb’s laugh was constant throughout, even during the bits where we chatted about the most difficult subjects relating to her illness. Sadly, her health declined quite quickly after our meeting, but nevertheless the news of her death came as a huge shock to me. I go past Sixfields 2-3 times a year and I always remember Debs.

Although I only got to meet her once, that experience left a mark on me. Debs had set up her own business, which was raising awareness about cancer at the workplace, supporting businesses, cancer patients and their families affected by cancer. She was a special person, who remains much missed by so many people.

Debs and I agreed that the chapter on her in the book should be written as of that moment in time of our meeting, so the chapter that I sent to Debs appears unchanged in the book apart from a few lines of explanation that I added to the start of it.

I’d already begun today thinking about living for the moment and seizing the day, and it was as though this memory of meeting Debs was meant to pop up on my timeline x