Karren Brady, 53, has opened up about the profound effect Deborah James’, 40, heartbreaking health battle has had on her. The business magnate was moved by the sad news that Deborah is now receiving end-of-life care after battling bowel cancer since 2016.
Deborah confirmed that she has been moved to hospice at home care earlier this week.
As the tragic reality sets in, the BBC podcast host confessed in her final column that she “does not want to die” and can’t fathom not seeing her two children “grow up”.
After following Deborah’s story, Karren says she can resonate with how she must be feeling after she was also faced with the prospect of dying back in 2006.
Doctors discovered she had a brain aneurysm – a bulge in a blood vessel in the brain – and told her she had a 30 percent chance of not making it.
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Recalling the traumatic time, Karren said: “How I know that feeling.
“It wasn’t dying that scared me… But the prospect of not seeing my kids grow up. Not being there for their weddings, and not meeting my grandchildren.
“And that is what Deborah is facing too and my heart goes out to her,” she writes in her column for The Sun.
Karren adds that she will “never take for granted how lucky [she] was to survive” the surgery and states that it gave her a “newfound appreciation of being alive”.
“I was absolutely shocked. I didn’t feel ill at all,” she wrote in The Guardian back in 2006.
Luckily, Karren’s surgery was a success and she made a full recovery.
Nevertheless, the traumatic experience changed her outlook on life.
She continued: “I did think I should spend more time with my children.
“There will never be a time again when I choose a board meeting over a sports day.”
It comes as Deborah’s Bowelbabe Fund has now reached more than £6 million donations.
The money will fund clinical trials and research into cancer treatments as well as support campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
