William thanks Lorraine Kelly for her campaign in memory of Dame Deborah James

The Prince of Wales urged viewers to ‘listen and learn about the signs and symptoms’ of bowel cancer.
The Prince of Wales has sent a ‘big thank you’ to ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly for her ongoing No Butts campaign in memory of Dame Deborah James (Sebastien Bowen/BBC/PA)
PA Media
Alex Green20 April 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The Prince of Wales has sent a “big thank you” to ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly for her ongoing No Butts campaign in memory of Dame Deborah James

Dame Deborah, who set up the Bowelbabe cancer research fund, died last year at the age of 40, five years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.

She initially spearheaded the campaign alongside Kelly in 2021, raising awareness of the disease in support of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April.

In a video posted on the Kensington Palace Twitter account and shown on Lorraine’s morning programme, William said: “Just want to say a big thank you to you and your team for all you are doing to raise awareness around bowel cancer through your No Butts campaign.”

The prince visited Dame Deborah, a podcaster and campaigner, at her family home shortly before her death to present her with her damehood and they shared afternoon tea and champagne.

Referring to the visit, he said: “As you know, I got to meet Dame Deborah so I know how important this was to her.

“Forty-six thousand people in the UK get diagnosed each year with bowel cancer and yet many of us don’t know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

“So if you are watching this, please take a second to listen and learn about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer. It could save your life.”

Earlier this week, Kelly relaunched the No Butts campaign for 2023 with an episode in which Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke surprised Dame Deborah’s mother, Heather James, with a dance in honour of her daughter.

Alongside Ms James, Dame Deborah’s sister, Sarah Wieczorek, also featured on the show and the family spoke about Dame Deborah’s lasting legacy.

Thursday’s show also featured an appearance from BBC Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts, who underwent treatment for bowel cancer in 2021 and uses a stoma bag.

By the time Dame Deborah died last June, she had raised millions of pounds for Cancer Research UK and was credited with raising awareness of bowel cancer by the NHS.

The total from her online appeal has since risen to more than £10 million.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in