The Bowelbabe Fund special

Explicit content warning

04/15/25 • 59 min

Welcome to another episode of That Cancer Conversation!

In this special episode, we’re celebrating the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK. The fund was set up by Dame Deborah James, also known as ‘Bowelbabe’, and her family in the last few weeks of her life.

For this special episode of the podcast, Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, interviews four of Deborah’s family and friends.

We have Ben James, Deborah’s brother and Sarah Wieczorek, Deborah’s sister. Emma Campbell (@limitless_em), author, speaker and podcast host who received treatment alongside Deborah and was a firm friend. And Steve Bland (@mr_blandy) an award-winning podcast producer and presenter. He joined the host line-up of the hugely popular You, Me and the Big C podcast alongside Deborah after his first wife Rachael passed away from breast cancer in 2018.

Michelle sits down with Ben, Sarah, Emma and Steve to talk about their memories of Deborah and discuss the Bowelbabe Fund as they prepare to take on this year’s London Marathon as ‘Team Bowelbabe’.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and watch it all on our YouTube channel!

LINKS:

You can donate to support Team Bowelbabe ---> here!

Read this article answering Bowel cancer’s most common questions.

Learn more about team PROSPECT.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of That Cancer Conversation!

For this special episode of the podcast, Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, interviews four of Deborah’s family and friends.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and watch it all on our YouTube channel!

LINKS:

You can donate to support Team Bowelbabe ---> here!

Read this article answering Bowel cancer’s most common questions.

Learn more about team PROSPECT.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

When will we get cancer vaccines? (Part 2)

Welcome to another episode of That Cancer Conversation!

In our last episode, ‘What are cancer vaccines?’, Sophie spoke to Dr Heather Shaw to learn about cancer vaccines and how they work. In this second episode, we continue to dive deeper into the world of cancer vaccines to find out when we might see cancer vaccines as treatments for cancer.

To start the conversation, Sophie speaks to Dr Lennard Lee, Associate Professor at University of Oxford and Chief Medical Officer of the EIT Institute, as well as co-founder of the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad. She also speaks to Cancer Research UK’s chief director of research and innovation, Dr Iain Foulkes, about how Cancer Research UK is playing a role in this ‘golden era’ of cancer treatments.

If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe and watch the new season all on our YouTube channel!

Extra links:

The Cancer Vaccine Bulletin

Discover more about cancer vaccines --> Cancer vaccines - where are we?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Why are more younger adults getting cancer?

Welcome to another episode of That Cancer Conversation!

We think of cancer as a primarily elderly disease but there’s a rising trend of cancer cases in younger adults (age 25 to 50), also known as early onset cancer. And in this episode we’re discussing what early onset cancer is and why it’s rising.

To start the conversation, Sophie speaks to Dr Nisha Duggan, a former researcher and now science engagement manager at Cancer Research UK, to unpack what cancer is and why early onset cancer might be different.

Sophie also speaks to Professor Andrew Chan, a co-lead for one of the Cancer Grand Challenges teams, Team PROSPECT. Cancer Grand Challenges is a global research initiative that identifies the toughest challenges in cancer research, and Andrew and his team aim to answer some of the biggest questions around early onset cancer. He explains not only how they’re trying to understand the rise in cases, but also how they can reverse the trend.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and watch it all on our YouTube channel!

Extra links:

Discover more about Cancer Grand Challenges

Article --> E. coli toxin could be linked to rising rates of bowel cancer in younger adults

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.