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Holly and Phillip openly weep on today’s show as mum describes her baby boy’s death

Viewers were also beside themselves as the mother told her tragic story

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It was one of the most difficult things anyone has heard on This Morning: a mum describing the moment her tiny baby boy died in hospital.

As they listened, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield lowered their heads and openly wept.

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The caller had contacted the show to tell her story after Holly and Phil had discussed Charlie Gard, the baby boy with a rare genetic condition and brain damage who is expected to have his life support turned off on Friday.

Charlie’s parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard hoped he could have potentially life-changing treatment in the US but the European Court of Human Rights ruled his life support should be switched off.

Caller Angela rang in with her own heartbreaking story. She was never given the choice to decide what treatment her 16-year-old son Joshua received before his death and could only watch as her baby passed away before her eyes.

She said she wasn’t allowed to go to her son for two-and-a-half hours in his last moments, leaving the presenters in shock.

She said: “I know if he was conscious he would want his mum.”

She continued: “When he finally had his cardiac arrest and he died, they put a tube down thinking at least his mum can come in now and wash him and do all the things mums do.

“But I never had that chance. We walked up to the bed of a child who I could see had no blood pressure – no nothing. He was dead with a tube in his face and I was supposed to say goodbye to him.

“At no point were we given a choice. We were not given the choice to have him incubated or not have him excubated.

“Our little boy died the most horrendous, undignified death I have ever seen in my life and I have to live with that every day now.

“I wasn’t given a chance, I wasn’t given a choice.”

This Morning viewers took to Twitter to praise Phil and Holly after the emotional phone call.

One viewer said: “That was a tough phone call. Heartbreaking #ThisMorning”

Another added: “I have so much respect for Holly and Phil, never try to hide their emotions #ThisMorning”

Another said: “Such a heartbreaking phone in – poor, poor Angela. I’m so pleased they let her talk on #thismorning I hope Angela is getting some support”

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Meanwhile, Charlie Gard’s parents continue to hope that their son might yet be allowed to live, however the future was looking very week after last week’s ruling.

They wrote on Facebook: “We’re not allowed to choose if our son lives and we’re not allowed to choose when or where Charlie dies. We, and most importantly Charlie, have been massively let down throughout this whole process.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie is being treated, have said he is in “continued pain, suffering and distress” and that the clinical trial in the US would “continue to cause significant harm” but with no real benefit.


Christian Guiltenane
Freelance Writer

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