Dame Deborah James, Steve Bland on Lorraine
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Deborah James fans rally round as her friend Steve Bland issues plea following her death

Deborah passed away last month aged 40

Fans of Dame Deborah James have rallied around her after her friend Steve Bland issued a plea following her death.

Steve took to Twitter yesterday (July 6) to urge people to change the terminology when talking about Deborah’s passing.

Dame Deborah James speaking on Lorraine
Deborah’s fans rallied around her (Credit: ITV)

Dame Deborah James’ friend issues plea

Yesterday saw Deborah‘s friend, Steve, take to Twitter to issue a plea to the late star’s fans and followers.

In a tweet for his 14.7k followers to see, Steve demanded that the terminology is changed when talking about Deborah’s death.

Can we clear something up. @bowelbabe did not LOSE HER FIGHT with cancer. Her fight was never with her cancer,” he wrote.

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“Her fight with cancer was to get access to new drugs, to fight to educate people so that others didn’t have to go through it.

Can we clear something up. @bowelbabe did not LOSE HER FIGHT with cancer.

“And she won that hands down,” he added. He then posted seven red, angry, swearing emojis.

Steve’s passionate tweet was accompanied by a picture of himself, Deborah, and Deborah’s podcast co-host, Lauren Mahon.

Of course, Steve lost his own wife Rachael Bland to cancer in 2018.

Dame Deborah James’ fans rally round

Plenty of Deborah’s fans took to the replies to show their support – both for Steve’s plea and for Deborah.

“You never lose to cancer. It’s an Impossible ‘battle’ to win whether you live or die. I hate that [bleeping] terminology,” one fan tweeted.

Well said! A number of cancer patients make the same appeal. @bowelbabe was so right. It implies some kind of failure in losing, which is of course ludicrous. The sooner we can lose it from our language the better!” another said.

“Thank you for saying that @blandsteve – let’s drop the ridiculous fight/battle/war rhetoric – not helpful,” a third wrote.

“I’ve always hated that phrase. It implies that people didn’t try hard enough, when the fact is there isn’t a choice to ‘fight’ or be ‘brave’ about it,” another tweeted.

Dame Deborah James' parents raising a glass for her on Instagram
Deborah’s parents raised a glass to her (Credit: Instagram)

Deborah’s parents pay tribute

Steve’s words come just days after Deborah’s parents paid tribute to their daughter on Instagram.

In a post on Deborah’s mother’s story, the late star’s parents can be seen raising a toast to Deborah.

Their toast came as a tribute rose to Deborah was unveiled at a flower show recently.

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“It was lovely to raise a glass today to Deborah at Hampton Court Palace Festival,” Deborah’s mother captioned the story.

“Thank you to @theharknessrosecompany for making this possible,” she continued.

“The Dame Deborah James Rose is at RHS Hampton Court Palace Festival this week,” she added.

Deborah James Urges People with Bowel Cancer Symptoms Not to "Die of Embarrassment" | Lorraine

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer