BBC’s Deborah James didn’t plan 40th birthday party as she ‘didn’t think she’d be alive’

Deborah James discusses side effects of chemotherapy

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Deborah James, 39, has shared she is not planning a “big bash” for her 40th birthday, as she did not think she would “be alive” to make the occasion. The BBC presenter shared a candid video on her Instagram today as she looked back on “how far” she had come amid her battle with stage 4 cancer.

Looking relaxed while sitting in her garden, Deborah shared: “I am looking forward to my birthday at the end of this week, although I keep being asked the question like I do with everything I’m doing this week, ‘How do you feel about your 40th?’.

“It is like a big emotional rollercoaster. I thought I would kind of be like, ‘Yay it’s my 40th’. 

“The reality is that it’s this milestone that is bringing back kind of how much I’ve been through. It’s quite an emotional one. 

“Like I keep on crying. Good tears. Happy tears. For once I’m not planning a big bash, I thought I would be, but i didn’t think I would be alive, and then what’s actually ended up happening is this milestone is reminding me how ill I was,” she finished.

However, despite her not having a large party, Deborah has been celebrating her birthday in style as she enjoying a lavish meal at Beaverbrook Town House last week in Chelsea.

Deborah looked glamorous in a trendy collared dress with a floral print which she paired with dangly gold earrings.

Her brunette tresses were worn in a bouncy blow-dry as she completed the look with a smokey eye palette.

She typed: “It’s not quite my birthday! But last night I got my first ‘Happy Birthday’ (thanks to the @elizabetharden team), and my word it made me smile! 

“I appreciate it’s weird to bang on about a birthday, but It’s a milestone (40) I was told I wouldn’t see. 

“So forgive the next week of, ‘Omg, I might actually see my 40th’ over excitement on the posting front!”

In response, her celebrity friends and fans told her to “enjoy” every minute of the momentous occasion.

Dr Amir Khan responded: “Enjoy every minute.”

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While influencer Katie Pix commented: “We’re all celebrating with you! Milk it girl.”

Podcaster Lauren Mahon shared a series of love heart emojis, as did presenter Gaby Roslin.

Deborah was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer back in 2016 and has continued to undergo treatment.

During this time, she has described her husband and father of her two children, Hugo, 13, and Eloise, 11, as being her “rock”.

Before her diagnosis, she was an ambitious deputy headteacher who’d been brought in to turn around a failing comprehensive in Surrey. 

It meant she and her banker spouse Sebastien Bowen were usually stressed and barely saw each other.

“It was a classic case of our marriage coming last,” she said.

Sebastien moved out in 2015 and they embarked on an initially “acrimonious” divorce, both hiring lawyers and starting to see other people. 

In November 2016, they made “a big step” and got back together, only for Deborah to receive her shock diagnosis soon after.

“No one thought 35-year-old vegetarian runners got bowel cancer,” she told Daily Mail.

“Everyone assumed it was something that old, meat-eating men got.”

Deborah is currently undergoing chemotherapy once again, after having a stent fitted to ensure she is able to have the treatment.

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