Dame Deborah James’s husband and son carry cancer campaigner’s coffin at funeral

Dame Deborah James’s husband and their two young children were joined by family and close friends as they bid farewell to the cancer awareness campaigner at her funeral.

The 40-year-old podcast host and fundraiser died in June after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016.

In her final months, the presenter of You, Me And The Big C raised nearly £7m for cancer research, with the amount going up more following her death and she was described as an “inspiration”.

At the private service in Barnes, west London, celebrities including McFly star Tom Fletcher and his wife Giovanna, as well as TV presenters Lorraine Kelly and Gaby Roslin, joined other mourners.

Dame Deborah‘s husband Sebastien Bowen and their 14-year-old son Hugo were among those who carried the wicker coffin into St Mary’s Church.

It had arrived in a vintage Rolls-Royce hearse with more than a dozen family members walking in procession behind, including the pair and Hugo’s 12-year-old sister Eloise.

The coffin was adorned with the rose that was named in her honour earlier this year.

Family members also carried a wreath of white flowers into the church.

A note said: “Deborah, thank you to our extraordinary friend. You together with Seb, Eloise and Hugo are such an important part of our family, we will love and miss you forever.”

During the funeral, Mr Bowen delivered a eulogy while his children both read poems.

Classically-trained jazz singer Natalie Rushdie, a family friend, sang Tell Me It’s Not True from the musical Blood Brothers.

Cellist Charles Watt played music from Gabriel Faure, while another family friend Sarah Mountford read an extract from the book of Ecclesiastes.

After the service, the family left for a private wake, while Dame Deborah’s coffin was taken away by car.

Following her cancer diagnosis in 2016, Dame Deborah, who became known as her social media handle Bowelbabe, kept her nearly one million Instagram followers up to date with her treatments.

Her honest posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, were praised by members of the public and the media.

She saw out her final days at her parents’ home in Woking, Surrey, and her death was announced on 28 June with a message saying she had died peacefully, surrounded by her family.

She was an “inspirational and unfalteringly brave woman whose legacy will live on”, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said.

The health service said the number of people checking bowel cancer symptoms on the NHS website increased tenfold after her death.