{"id":9973,"date":"2026-04-02T15:53:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/prince-william-praises-20m-milestone-for-bowelbabe-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:53:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:53:47","slug":"prince-william-praises-20m-milestone-for-bowelbabe-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/prince-william-praises-20m-milestone-for-bowelbabe-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince William praises \u00a320m milestone for Bowelbabe fund"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A cancer research fund set up by Dame Deborah James has reached an \u00ab\u00a0incredible milestone\u00a0\u00bb after it hit the \u00a320m mark, the Prince of Wales says.<\/p>\n<p>The Bowelbabe Fund, set up in May 2022 shortly before Dame Deborah died of bowel cancer, has reached the milestone in less than four years, having initially aimed to raise \u00a3250,000.<\/p>\n<p>In a message on Instagram, Prince William praised the \u00ab\u00a0amazing legacy\u00a0\u00bb of Dame Deborah, from Woking, Surrey, writing: \u00ab\u00a0Deborah is in our thoughts today, as are all those who loved her.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>Dame Deborah&rsquo;s mother, Heather James, added: \u00ab\u00a0Deborah would be absolutely over the moon if she were here today to see this.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>Heather James said: \u00ab\u00a0She was so passionate about supporting research that would help give more people affected by cancer more time with their loved ones.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Dame Deborah&rsquo;s father Alistair James said: \u00ab\u00a0She set this up in the last few weeks of her life and if she knew we had managed \u00a320.5m even Deborah with her energy probably wouldn&rsquo;t believe what happened.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, which benefits from the fund, said the money raised had been used to support 16 research projects, including a \u00ab\u00a0Bowelbabe vaccine\u00a0\u00bb aimed at boosting immunity against bowel cancer.<\/p>\n<p>You, Me And The Big C podcast host Dame Deborah was given a damehood for her fundraising efforts, which soared past \u00a31m in the first 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>The honour was personally conferred by Prince William, who joined her family for afternoon tea and champagne while she was receiving hospice-at-home care.<\/p>\n<p>She died in June 2022 at the age of 40.<\/p>\n<p>Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: \u00ab\u00a0Reaching this \u00a320m milestone is a true testament to Deborah&rsquo;s incredible legacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00ab\u00a0Thanks to research, more than half of people diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK will survive the disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u00ab\u00a0But there is still much more to do.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cancer research fund set up by Dame Deborah James has reached an \u00ab\u00a0incredible milestone\u00a0\u00bb after it hit the \u00a320m mark, the Prince of Wales says. The Bowelbabe Fund, set up in May 2022 shortly before Dame Deborah died of bowel cancer, has reached the milestone in less than four years, having initially aimed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}