Dame Deborah James enjoys girly sleepover after spending the day 'in tears'

Dame Deborah James said 'it can be hard to make memories when you are dying' in a bittersweet Instagram post. The 40-year-old BBC podcast host is currently on end-of-life care at her parents' home in Woking.

Dame Deborah, who is mum to daughter Eloise, 12, and son, Hugo, 14, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016. She has been sharing her journey online with fans - who have helped raise a whopping £6.6m for the Bowel Babe fund for charities such as Cancer Research UK .

She was honoured with a damehood by the Duke of Cambridge for her work to raise awareness of bowel cancer.

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In a series of snaps posted on her Instagram, Dame Deborah told her 900,000 followers that she was "feeling awful after a bad day", even crying over leaking drains. So her sister decided to throw a family sleepover to cheer her up, complete with a tee-pee tent, fairy lights, balloons, skincare masks and a Cinderella film.

The photos show Dame Deborah dressed in matching pink pyjamas and eye masks with her family, enjoying a cosy night in. The gesture meant a lot to the Dame, as she has been taking lots of rest to manage her condition, which is getting harder for her as she gets more sleepy, she revealed in an Instagram post two weeks ago.

"I’m getting less and less able to leave the house, or bed really now, so was feeling pretty down about it," the journalist and Dame explained on Instagram. "Making memories can be hard when you are dying! Oh the pressure!

"I’m now only getting some very grabbed hours between the sleeping and side effects, but this girly sleepover managed to put such a smile to my face, having spent most of yesterday in tears! I was feeling