DEBORAH JAMES would be geeking out if she knew her nickname is now etched on the door of one of Britain’s leading cancer research labs.
Last week the Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Lab at the Francis Crick Institute, near King’s Cross station in London, was officially renamed The Bowelbabe Laboratory in her honour.
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Her brother Ben and sister Sarah Wieczorek took part in Sunday’s London Marathon, both dressed as a poo, to raise money for the Bowelbabe Fund.
Ben, 34, told The Sun: “Debs loved geeky science, especially this project where they are growing organoids and mini bowels.
“Whether it’s cutting-edge research into personalised medicine or early detection, she loved it and she wanted to set up this fund to do exactly this.”
And Debs’ husband, Seb Bowen told how she would have been “unbelievably proud” to see the impact her Fund is having.
READ MORE ON BOWEL CANCER
‘Exciting but bittersweet’
He said: “I felt so many emotions, but the overwhelming one was a sense of enormous pride at Deborah’s fund being a part of this amazing, world-class institution.”
Sun columnist Dame Debs died from bowel cancer aged just 40 in 2022 but not before starting a massive charity and awareness movement to help save others from suffering the same fate.
Cash from her £17million legacy Bowelbabe Fund is now paying scientists on the frontline of bowel cancer research.
They are growing tiny organs in petri dishes and conducting DNA analysis to work out how to catch and treat the devastating disease.
The Sun joined Debs’ family last week for a tour of the facility with researchers, Cancer Research UK and the Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Ben added: “We’ve all enjoyed learning the science side of things. Like many families, you get into it when you are impacted by it.
“Debs was fortunate enough to be with us for five years plus because of some of this research, and during that time she brought us into the loop and kept beating the drum for better awareness and understanding.
“It is always bittersweet but it’s really exciting for the family to see that the money generously donated by the public is going to great use.”
Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of tumour in the UK and the second biggest cancer killer.
Around 17,000 Brits die from the disease each year, fewer only than lung cancer which claims 35,000 lives.
Half of cases could be prevented with healthier living but many are harder to explain.
Scientists are particularly worried that the disease is becoming more common in young adults such as Debs, who was diagnosed aged just 35.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Bowel cancer research is a significant priority for us. We are seeing a dramatic in- crease in early onset cancer around the world. We don’t exactly know why yet, but that’s why more research is absolutely critical.”
Dr Ian Walker, director of policy at the charity, added: “The key thing for us is that we know if you detect bowel cancers early you have a significant change in your prognosis.
“Patients detected with very early stage bowel cancer have 90-plus per cent survival after five years.
“Whereas if you detect bowel cancer in the later stage of stage four that can be around only ten per cent.”
Scientists working in the Bowelbabe lab, led by Dr Vivian Li, are studying early warning proteins in at-risk patients.
They hope to be able to detect chemical signals in blood or poo samples that could help with faster diagnosis of less common tumours.
Analysing genes that appear only in people with cancer could also help to develop early warning signs and provide targets for treatment.
A big focus for the team is the issue of chemotherapy resistance.
This occurs when treatment stops working because a tumour gets used to the drugs being used to attack it.
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Dr Li estimates this happens eventually in 90 per cent of patients with stage four cancer that has spread.
She told The Sun: “One of our recent findings is a gene called SOX2, which potentially contributes to chemotherapy resistance.
“That gene drives the cancer cell to go to sleep and the chemotherapy does not work on sleeping cells — it can only kill the cancer when the cells are dividing. Then when you withdraw the drug the cells can grow again.
“Now we’re trying to revert that to sensitise the patient to chemotherapy.”
Dr Li’s lab is also trying new approaches to immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.
They are able to test new treatment methods or genetic therapies on fascinating organoids in the lab.
Organoids are tiny human organs or tumours grown in petri dishes using cells harvested from patients.
They react just like the cells in the body parts doctors want to target, meaning researchers can test how different approaches might work in the clinic.
‘Pushing the frontiers’
Supporting Dr Li’s project was a no-brainer for Debs’ family.
Towards the end of her life, Dame Debs had an organoid of her own bowel tumour created, at the Institute of Cancer Research in London.
Deborah would’ve shared my pride, she would’ve found it all really, really exciting
Seb Bowen
She was also a regular visitor to laboratories including those at The Crick where she helped lift the curtain on the cutting-edge science giving so many cancer patients hope.
After being diagnosed in 2016, the former deputy head teacher made it her mission to raise awareness, dressing up in poo emojis to break taboos and urging people: “Check your poo!”
FUND HIT £17M
THE BowelBabe Fund was set up in May 2022 after Debs revealed in her final Sun column she had returned to her parents’ home to receive palliative care.
Dame Deborah made a final plea for people to help her hit £10million and, since her death, the fund soared to £17million.
The cash has funded projects – including a new X-ray machine at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey, where she was treated, and a bowel cancer roadshow to raise awareness.
Most of the money is funding cutting edge cancer research, including new treatments, better testing, using AI for diagnosis and understanding how tumours spread.
- If you would like to donate go to bowelbabe.org
She shared the signs and symptoms every one should know in her Sun column, Things Cancer Made Me Say, and called for action to invest in research to find new treatments.
Deborah often said she was “riding on the wings of science” — a reference to the fact new, cutting-edge treatments helped her survive for five-and-a-half years, when statistics suggested she might not live a year.
So seeing her name adorned on the door of a lab at The Crick was such a special moment for her family.
Her parents Heather and Alistair, told The Sun: “Deborah would be over the moon to know that a lab dedicated to finding new treatments bears her name.”
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Seb added: “With talented scientists from around the world and CRUK, the UK is at the forefront of cancer research, and I’m not sure many people realise that.
“Deborah would’ve shared my pride, she would’ve found it all really, really exciting.
“To see money raised in her name helping fund projects that will hopefully one day help save lives, was exactly what she hoped for.
“It’s inspiring to know the fund has the potential to have such a positive impact.”
One of the reasons Dame Deborah’s legacy is so impactful is that every time she’s in The Sun or in the media, we see searches for bowel cancer symptoms going up and people going and getting tested
Wes Streeting
Her parents added: “Deborah didn’t want us all sitting around feeling sad, and in setting up the Bowelbabe Fund she ensured that we always have a really positive focus.
“She has, and continues to be, at the forefront of our minds when we decide on the projects to support — made easier by the fact we all know what she would’ve wanted. To know that she is still helping to save lives almost three years on, makes us all very proud.”
Wes Streeting, a cancer survivor himself, visited the lab last week with Debs’ family.
He said: “One of the reasons Dame Deborah’s legacy is so impactful is that every time she’s in The Sun or in the media, we see searches for bowel cancer symptoms going up and people going and getting tested.
“The work that is now being done in her name and the fundraising that has taken place in her name — thanks to her amazing family — is pushing the frontiers of medical science in this area.
“That legacy lives on so it’s entirely fitting that we’ve now got the Bowelbabe Lab here with Cancer Research UK at the Crick Institute.”
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CHECK YOUR POO
DAME Debs told anyone who would listen to ‘check your poo’ in her crusade to raise awareness.
These are the most common signs of potential bowel cancer:
- Poo becoming looser, harder, or diarrhoea or constipation that doesn’t go away
- Signs of red or black blood in the toilet
- Needing to poo more or less often than usual
- Bloating, feeling full or like you need to go when you don’t
- Tummy or lower back pain
- An unexplained lump near your gut
- Feeling tired all the time
- Losing weight for no reason
If you are worried about any symptoms, speak to your GP.