Dame Deborah James told her children to 'marry only for love' in a letter she wrote to them and her husband before her death.

Dame Deborah, also known by her social media handle Bowel Babe, died on June 28 at the age of 40 after suffering from bowel cancer.

In the letter written to her husband Sebastien and children Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, before she died, and later published in The Sun, Dame Deborah wrote: “You can make plans, and you can have goals, but you have to be prepared for the fact that sometimes life is more interesting when you go off-piste, so be brave.

“Take a chance and back yourself.

“Remember to be your number one cheerleader.”

She added: “Learn to balance living in the now and being present in the moment with your plans for the future (although this may be the hardest lesson of all).

“Marry only for love.”

Dame Deborah also included the letter in her upcoming book ‘How To Live When You Could Be Dead’

This will be the cancer campaigner’s second book, her first book ‘F*** You Cancer: How To Face The Big C, Live Your Life And Still Be Yourself’, was published in 2018.

In early May, she revealed that she has stopped active treatment and was receiving end-of-life care at her parents’ home in Woking.

She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and regularly updated her one million Instagram followers with her treatments.

The podcaster regularly spoke of her prognosis, and diagnosis and included videos of her dancing her way through treatment.

Dame Deborah co-hosted The Big C podcast

Alongside Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland, she launched the You, Me And The Big C podcast in 2018.

The trio, who were all former or current cancer patients, candidly discussed life on treatment and other topics relating to cancer.

Bland died in September that year at the age of 40, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, making Mahon, 37, the only surviving original host.

In a separate section of the letter about her husband, Dame Deborah wrote: “I never quite knew if you could really have a love of your life, but I now know what the very core of unquestioned love is between two people.

“I have always loved my husband.

“I fancied him from when I first met him, and I knew I would marry him after our third date.

“It was clear to me that, while he wasn’t perfect, there was something about him that was right for me.”

As a result of her campaigning efforts, James was made a dame, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying: “If ever an honour was richly deserved, this is it.”

Dame Deborah later said she felt “honoured and shocked” to even be considered for the honour.

Shortly before her death Dame Deborah revealed she had completed her second book, which is due to be published on August 18.