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Deborah James at a gala in 2019
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David M. Benett / Dave Benett/Getty Images
Terminally ill BBC presenter Deborah James has raised more than £2.5million (€2.9million) for a cancer charity in a short time with a fundraiser.
She was "absolutely overwhelmed," James said in a video clip released by the BBC on Wednesday.
"I had a number in my head of about a quarter of a million because I figured that would be enough to pay for a couple of the charities I wanted to fund," James said.
A million pounds in a day
The 40-year-old, who has had colon cancer for years, only announced the “Bowelbabe Fund” – after the English term “bowel cancer” for colon cancer – on Monday.
Well over a million pounds were raised within a day, and by Wednesday morning the targeted sum had increased tenfold.
James made the diagnosis public in 2016 and has since updated her 500,000 followers on Instagram with reports of treatment and progress.
In addition, the mother of two children told a podcast about the disease.
"Ultimately, I don't want any other Deborahs to go through this," she said, explaining her fundraiser.
In an Instagram post, the presenter recently wrote that everything had been tried, but her body just didn't take part in cancer treatment.
She therefore terminated the active part and will now continue to be cared for while she is dying.
The past six months have been "heartbreaking," James wrote in a column for The Sun newspaper.
But she was surrounded by "so much love".
"I do not wanna die.
I can't face the thought that I won't see my children's weddings or grow up - that I won't be a part of the life I love so much," she wrote in her final column for the newspaper »The Sun«.
James told the BBC she has moved back in with her parents to spend as much time as possible with her family.
This is the place "where I always wanted to die".
fek/dpa