Eloise was just 13 when her brave mother sadly died at the age of 40 – five years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Now she is stepping into the spotlight to champion Dame Deborah’s campaign
The 15-year-old daughter of Dame Deborah James has taken up her mother’s fight in the battle against bowel cancer.
Eloise and her older brother Hugo sadly lost their mum to the disease in June 2022. Now the teen is set to step into the public eye and continue the campaign – and she’s determined to carry on Dame Deborah’s sense of fun.
Eloise has teamed up with Lorraine Kelly to support her No Butts initiative, which was launched by Dame Deborah in 2021.
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Deborah was just 40 when she died, five years after her stage four bowel cancer diagnosis. She was known for her candid persona and infectious sense of fun, even dressing up in a poo costume to help highlight the cause.
Eloise told the Sun: “Mum would be chuffed I was doing this because spreading awareness is what it’s all about. Mum didn’t want to make it something scary, she wanted to make it something fun.
“She made it like dances, making jokes out of it. It gets to people more than being serious, ’cause no one is going to listen to someone being serious the whole time. Life is just not that serious, at the end of the day.”
GCSE student Eloise has now made a film to help promote the campaign, alongside her grandmother Heather. It shows the pair together in the garden at home in Woking, remembering some of Deborah’s efforts.
Eloise also spoke about Prince William’s visit in May 2022, when he conferred Deborah’s Damehood.
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“I remember making meringues when Prince William came and [my grandmother] was going round the house like, ‘We have to tidy, we have to tidy.’ The house was spotless but she was like, ‘My house is a tip, I’m so sorry Prince William.’ She spent 24 hours tidying, I don’t know why she was apologising.”
Eloise also spoke about some of her mum’s cheeky campaigns, including branded loo roll and knickers. “The loo roll is genius, it’s something that’s a cheeky reminder. Mum was dressed like a poo half the time! I remember her drawing poo shapes and trying to tell us about the types of poos.”
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. Around 43,000 people are diagnosed every year in the UK, and more than 15,500 died from the disease in 2024, making it the second biggest cancer killer.
Bowel cancer is treatable if diagnosed early. Symptoms include blood in your poo, unexplainable weight loss, extreme tiredness, and lumps or pain in the tummy.
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Eloise added: “What mum wanted was for everyone to know the truth, that it can happen to anybody. Even if you’re the most healthy person in the room you still have a chance of getting it.”
At the time of Deborah’s death, her fundraising website bowelbabe.org had accumulated nearly £7 million to fund “clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer”. Her final message read: “Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope. And finally, check your poo – it could just save your life.”
Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson described her as “an absolute inspiration”, while Prince William and Princess Kate said in a statement, “Deborah was an inspirational and unfalteringly brave woman whose legacy will live on.”
