This Morning’s Dr Philippa Kaye was left tearful on Thursday’s show as she discussed friend Deborah James's announcement that she's entered end of life care.
The ITV GP was diagnosed with stage two bowel cancer in 2019, aged 39, and shared the symptoms to look out for with presenters Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes, who is standing in for Holly Willoughby.
At the beginning of the segment, she warned that she might become emotional due to her friend Deborah's news.
On Thursday’s programme, Dr Philippa said: “The cancer community is an amazing place, and you guys have to excuse me if I do get emotional, and Deborah is an amazing person.”
The podcast presenter, 40, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and has lived with stage 4 bowel cancer for five years.
On Monday evening, the mum-of-two revealed that she was in hospice care and that she is spending her last days surrounded by family and friends.
Dr Philippa continued: “You have a bond in a way other people don't. We bonded over being in ICU, or being in hospital on our own in the middle of a pandemic, and you have a mutual understanding.
“That's messaging at 11 o'clock at night or 3 in the morning. That connection is immense."
Philippa said she was told she had less than a one in 10,000 chance of having cancer in her initial consultation, before she was told she had stage two bowel cancer.
Despite having the illness, Philippa called herself lucky for catching it early and said she is currently cancer free.
She told viewers to contact a doctor if they spot blood in their poo, notice sudden unexplained weight loss, irregular bowel movements, extreme fatigue and persistent stomach pain for more than three weeks.
This comes after Deborah James broke down in tears on BBC Breakfast yesterday as she recalled "hard conversations" she had had with her children about her death.
She said: "I've always said I don't want to leave any stone unturned - I don't think there isn't a stone we haven't tried to unturn to make my liver work again in order to get my body functioning.
"Unfortunately I'm exhausted - I'm absolutely exhausted. We've got to the point now where I can't really do anything more. "
She continued as she began to break down in tears: "I have a really loving family who I adore. Honestly, they're incredible and all I knew I wanted was to come here and be able to relax knowing that everything was okay.
"I've had some really hard conversations during the last week. You think, 'Gosh, how can anyone have those conversations?' and then you find yourself in the middle of them. And people are very nice, but you're talking about your own death and I've had five years to prepare for my death."
