Viewers saw celebrities brought to tears on Friday night in a hugely emotional episode of Gogglebox.
The Channel 4 hit series returned with a special Stand Up To Cancer edition of the show which featured stars including Charlotte Church, Luke Evans, Mel B and Ruby Wax alongside show regulars. And they were left wiping their eyes at devastating stories of how cancer ruined lives, including that of three-year-old Dylan-James.
The little boy told his mother he had a 'ghost in my tummy' soon before dying of the disease. Gogglebox viewers saw, and no doubt shared, the shocked reaction of the celebrities, including Welsh singer Charlotte and actor Luke who were watching on a sofa together as the three-year-old's story was screened.
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As Wales Online reports, Dylan-James' mother Alison first spoke of the time she met her childhood sweetheart, Warren, and how, after moving in together, they decided it was the right time to start a family. But, following a check-up, she was told she had ovarian cancer and that it would be difficult for her to have children.
However, she added: "And that's why it was such a delight when I conceived". Dylan-Jones was born two months early but when the boy was two years old he had a fever and was taken to A&E, where a consultant told his parents he would need a scan.
He was later diagnosed with a tumour on his kidney. The parents were told that the so-called Wilms' tumour was a curable cancer and Dylan-Jones would undergo a 12-month high-dose chemotherapy treatment plan alongside a major surgery to remove the tumour.
"Everything was going really well," said Alison. "And then one day he announced: 'I've got a ghost in my tummy.' And he had a scan and they said: 'It has progressed to stage 4, because the cancer is in his lungs.'
"I said 'do whatever it takes, I can't lose him' but then they said: 'there's nothing else we can do, he's got two months.' My heart was breaking in place I didn't know was possible.
"I had to look at him and just smile because I didn't want to have to tell him. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do." Dylan-James passed away on June 22, 2018 at the age of just three.
Among the Gogglebox stars clearly moved at hearing her words were Olympian swimmer Tom Daley and his American screenwriter husband Dustin Lance Black who said to the gold medallist: "We've both been through this - losing people to cancer. But that, to lose a child like that, that is brutal."
Charlotte and Luke looked very upset and star chef Gordon Ramsay, watching with his daughter Matilda, appeared similarly moved at people's heartbreaking experiences of cancer affecting loved ones. After watching Dylan-James' story, Gogglebox regular Pete told his sister Sophie: "The scary thing is that this could be anybody in the same position."
He added: "When you have children, life is so precious; you just don't realise how lucky we are. We need to find a cure, nobody should be going through this - three years old and he is having his life taken away."
Ahead of the show, which also showed the stars watching TV series such as Love is Blind, I Can See Your Voice and Only Connect, Charlotte had said: "Cancer affects so many - with one in two of us getting a diagnosis in our lifetime - so we’re delighted we can play a small part in supporting the incredible work being done by Stand Up To Cancer." For more about Stand Up To Cancer see here.
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