Simon Thomas appeared on This Morning today to tell the emotional story of having to tell his son that his mother had died of acute myeloid leukaemia.
The Sky Sports presenter’s wife Gemma died in November, three days after being diagnosed with the disease.
In the clip above, Simon speaks about the moment he told his eight-year-old son Ethan that his mother had died.
“My heart was pounding. He (Ethan) went in to see her twice that day. I didn’t tell Ethan she was going.
“I just said, ‘Mummy is seriously ill’, and I held him to her ear a couple of times and he said he loved her and (then) he went to play with his cousins.
“And I got home, and I thought I’ve just got to grab him, so I took him upstairs, and I looked into his deep brown eyes and said, ‘Ethan, I’m really sorry, they couldn’t make mummy better’.
“You can’t dress it up. I just said, ‘Mummy’s died’, and he collapsed on to the floor. I collapsed with him. I just held him. I would never wish that on my worst enemy.”
Just needs to sort out his outfit and he’ll be ready to take over from his old man! pic.twitter.com/5vnbhjx8Tm
— Simon Thomas (@SimonThomasTV) February 25, 2018
Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive and rare form of blood cancer.
The symptoms of AML usually develop over a few weeks and become more severe. It affects some 2,600 people in Britain each year.
