Cat Deeley fights back tears on This Morning during inspiring interview with William, eight, about his battle with sepsis
Cat Deeley gave an emotional interview on This Morning on Thursday with a young family struck by sepsis.
The ITV star fought back tears as she and Ben Shephard spoke to eight-year-old William Reckless, who had both his legs amputated after battling sepsis in 2020 at the age of three.
As Cat, mother of two boys, spoke to William’s mum Gemma about the terrifying moment the doctor told the family about the diagnosis, the presenter tried to keep herself under control.
Gemma explained: ‘The doctors asked me, “Do you understand what’s happening?” and I said, “He has meningitis, doesn’t he?” And they said, ‘No, he has sepsis,’ and I just had no idea what that was.”
Cat Deeley had an emotional interview with a young family affected by sepsis on This Morning on Thursday

The ITV star fought back tears as she and Ben Shepherd spoke to eight-year-old William, who had both his legs amputated after a battle with blood poisoning in 2020 at the age of three
‘I remember thinking, ‘Someone’s going to wake me up, it’s not going to happen.’ We were home two hours ago.’
William, who appeared on the ITV show alongside Gemma, his father Michael and sister Georgia, became serious after developing blood poisoning while suffering from scarlet fever.
He almost died when his heart stopped and had to stay in intensive care for three months due to complications. His lower legs and parts of his fingers had to be amputated.
However, his family said the little boy never stopped smiling throughout the months he was in physio.
Gemma said that when he was told he would lose his legs, he seemed to accept everything and even woke up from the amputation with a smile on his face.
He soon told doctors and nurses that his left leg had been eaten by a crocodile and the right leg had been taken by a shark.
In March, William walked further than ever before to raise money for charity. He walked two miles with his prosthetic legs and cycled another two miles on a hand cycle for Nottingham Hospitals Charity.
William, from Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire, raised £5,600.

As Cat spoke to his mother Gemma about the terrifying moment the doctor told the family about William’s diagnosis, the presenter tried her best to calm down.

Gemma explained: ‘The doctors asked me, “Do you understand what’s happening?” and I said, “He’s got meningitis, hasn’t he?” And they said, “No, he has sepsis”

Cat looked emotional as Gemma recalled: ‘I remember thinking, ‘Someone’s going to wake me up, it’s not happening.’ We were home two hours ago.”