Holly Willoughby made a dying girl's dreams come true as she shared some special gifts.
Hosts Eamonn Holmes OBE and Ruth Langsford spoke to nine-year-old Sophie Fairall who is battling a rare form of incurable cancer and sadly has just months to live.
But together with her family, Sophie made a list of things she wanted to do - with one of her wishes to visit This Morning.
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Eamonn said : “You have chosen us to be part of a list that you have, things that you absolutely want to do…”
Sophie’s father Gareth said: “She’s been so positive about it. Unfortunately, she had a twelve-inch tumour removed back in September and she relapsed back in June after nine months of chemo and radiotherapy and they’ve told us that there’s no cure for it now, but Sophie being Sophie wants to be positive."
Her mother Charlotte explained how tough it was to make the decision to stop the chemotherapy.
She said: “It wasn't easy when we know what the consequences are of stopping treatment but I think for us, quality of life was definitely more important than the time - selfishly, for us it would be about the time - but we felt that the effects of the chemo and the new chemo that we were on wasn’t actually working…”
Explaining how she has completed some of the things on her list like feeding animals at the zoo, and meeting Gordon Ramsey, Sophie said of Gordon: “I like his cooking and I like him as a person. He was nice [when I met him] - he swore once. We cooked hazelnut souffle.”
Ruth said: “Now I know Holly Willoughby is your favourite and I’m sorry she’s not here today as she is away on her summer break, however, she has sent you a gift.”
Opening a box in front of her, Sophie took out the tiara Holly wore when she dressed up as a princess for the This Morning Christmas panto.
Ruth said: “She was very sorry she couldn’t be here, but I think it won’t stop her talking to you!”
Eamonn and Ruth then surprised her by contacting Holly Willoughby to speak to her live on the show whilst Sophie beamed with happiness.
Waving Holly said: “Hello Sophie! It’s so so lovely to meet you and I’m so sorry I can’t be there but when I heard you were coming on the show, I was like, ‘Right, I want to be there, I want to see her’ and I wish I could be there, but I’m sending you a big virtual cuddle through the screen... Have you had a nice morning?”
Sophie, still in shock, nodded.
Holly added,: "Good. Now, the tiara I know you’ve already opened and I was wracking my brains last night when I was reading all about you and you’re a bit of a girl after my own heart because I know you love fashion and I was thinking what could I do?
"And out of all of my outfits on This Morning, what was my favourite outfit that I wore, and it had to be my Cinderella dress and the best bit about that dress was that tiara! So that’s my favourite thing.
"And you’re a lucky girl because I asked if I could take that home for my daughter and they were like, ‘No, it has to remain here, it’s way too special for you to take home’ so you can have that with our love because I know you like that.
“Also, the other thing I know about you is that you’re a big fan of Australia and the jungle and you love I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
"So again, I was thinking what can I do here because I went to the jungle a couple of years ago and I went into my attic and found my jungle box of memorabilia and what I found in there was this…”
Ruth asked Sophie’s dad to look behind the sofa cushion where he found Holly’s jungle flask.
Holly said: “So this was the water bottle that I had in the jungle - don’t worry, I’ve cleaned it out and shook out any spiders and bugs - but that is a real bit of memorabilia, I had that on set with me every day, so that’s my little piece of the jungle to give to you.”
Blowing a kiss and waving bye, Holly said: “It’s so nice to meet you, bye.”
