Holly Willoughby struggled to hold back tears as she met a young boy, who had a bad reaction to amoxicillin and tragically lost his eyesight, on Tuesday’s This Morning.
Declan Bitmead, 10, was diagnosed with tonsillitis and prescribed the antibiotic amoxicillin, but he suffered an allergic reaction to the drug in 2015 which almost ended his life.
The little boy, who was on the show alongside his mum Ashley ahead of an appearance on This Time Next Year, spent three weeks in intensive care and contracted Stevens-Johnson syndrome – a rare disorder that affects the skin and eyes.
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Declan has always been a huge football fan, but his condition almost stopped him playing forever.
He was registered blind in 2015 but still regularly plays blind football, which sees the teams wear a mask and follow the sound of the ball that rings.
And as a surprise for Declan, host Phillip Schofield revealed they had a present for him.
Phil told him he will be taking part in a Euro 2020 England qualifier at Wembley Stadium.
The presenter revealed: “The FA are inviting you to be a mascot for England’s key Euro qualifying 2020 game against the Czech Republic at Wembley on March 22.
“And if you fancy this, you’re going to walk out with one of the stars of the Three Lions before the match in front of 90,000 spectators. How does that make you feel?”
The little boy was left chuffed with his gift and Holly started tearing up as she watched Declan’s sweet reaction.
She told him: “Enjoy that and send us lots of photos of that day because we want to be part of it.”
Phil added: “You’ve taken it really well, your mum’s taken it really well, but I’ll just get a tissue for Holly!”
As Phil handed her a tissue, Holly said: “It was your face when we told you it was just so nice.”
Speaking about her son, Ashley said on the show: “When we went to a hospital to ask about his left eye, which was his better eye, and we were hoping that we were able to do something.
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“The doctor actually said there’s nothing that we can do.”
She added: “Me and Andy, my husband, were devastated and I said to Declan, ‘how do you feel?’ and he said, ‘Well it doesn’t matter I’ve still got my right eye’. He sees the positive in everything.”
Declan will appear on This Time Next Year tonight on ITV at 8pm.
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