Holly Willoughby broke down on This Morning as she met a mum who shared the heartbreaking story of her son’s tragic death from sepsis.
The presenter couldn’t hold back her tears as Melissa described her agony after realising her baby, William, had passed away.
Melissa has spoken out just days after Jeremy Hunt publicly apologised to the family claiming the “NHS let her down”.
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Speaking about her son, Melissa said: “He was just so happy, at the end of our day our cheeks hurt because we’d been laughing all day.
“He was just perfect, he was everything we could have dreamed of and more.”
The devastated mum told Phil and Holly how she had taken her son to the hospital multiple times but doctors told her it was just a viral infection.
After realising her son had passed away from sepsis, Melissa admitted she had never heard of the illness.
She said: “When we had William’s post-mortem results and he said he died of sepsis.
“I thought that must be rare, we didn’t know what it is. We saw it’s the UK’s second biggest killer. We were dumbfounded.”
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Revealing the heartbreaking moment she realised her son had died Melissa said: “Within a few hours of speaking to the last doctor, who told us to keep him in bed as that was the best place for him, I went in to check on him and he had passed away.”
Melissa also spoke about the teddy she carries around which contains some of William’s ashes so he will always be with her.
Viewers were in tears as they listened to Melissa’s story.
One wrote on Twitter: “In tears watching this story on @thismorning god this is heartbreaking poor little boy #ThisMorning.”
“How awfully sad, no mother should have to carry round their child’s ashes in a teddy bear, thoughts go out to @amotherwithout #ThisMorning,” another said.
Melissa told the hosts: “I’m blessed he picked me to be his mum, and honoured to call him my son.
“The impact he’s had in his short life is more than I can ever hope to achieve in my lifetime.”