Holly Willoughby was reduced to tears after Melissa Mead appeared on This Morning to raise awareness to Sepsis after he son died from the disease
Holly Willoughby was reduced to tears on This Morning after Melissa Mead appeared on the show to raise awareness to the silent killer Sepsis after her one-year-old son died from the disease.
Melissa's adorable little boy William passed away in December 2014 after he was turned away four times when doctors failed to diagnose him. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt attended Melissa's son's memorial and publically apologised to Melissa and her family. He also admitted the NHS and Government let down William.
Before the This Morning presenters began their interview with Melissa, Holly was already in tears about the devastating loss. Opening up about the heart-breaking experience of losing her little boy, Melissa explained he had a cough which lasted for seven weeks and doctors kept tell her it was a viral infection.
She continued: "It was two days before he died he started getting a really high fever. We took him to the emergency doctor and we were sent home. We didn't find out until after William had died that the examination fell below standard.
"In the 36 hours before he died we saw two doctors and spoke to the 111 service and they all deemed William's situation as none urgent.
"Within a few hours of speaking to the last doctor - who told us to leave him in bed because it was the best place for him and to not bring him in – I went in to check on him and he had passed away."
One of the reasons the NHS failed to diagnose William with sepsis is because no one really knew what the signs were even though it kills more than 37,000 people a year in the UK. Melissa even admitted when she discovered her son passed away from the disease she thought it was rare: "We took to Google and found that it was the UK's second biggest killer and we were dumbfounded. We were speechless."
Melissa who described her little one as "so happy" admitted her cheeks hurt everyday from smiling so much. Talking about her son she admitted: "I'm blessed that he picked me to be his mum. I'm honoured to call him my son and I'm incredibly proud of what's been achieved in his name.
"The impact that he has had in his short life is more than I can ever hope to achieve in a lifetime and I don't think there are many parents that can say that about their children."
Holly broke down in tears during the interview and couldn't finish her VT.
Melissa who carries a teddy bear around – that now contains some of his ashes - has created her own campaign to raise awareness to sepsis and she now works with the Sepsis Trust.
Sepsis symptoms for children can include a high temperature, low temperature, difficulties breathing, not going weeing for 12 hours, not eating or drinking or having a floppy body. You can read more about Sepsis on the NHS and the Sepsis Trust website.
You can watch the emotional interview below.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by Sepsis you can seek support at the *Sepsis TrustSepsis Trust.*
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