This Morning: Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond in tears over 14-year-old’s cancer story

Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond couldn’t hold back the tears on This Morning after Gok Wan’s 14-year-old cousin revealed she is now “leukaemia free”.

Alyssa, who is the stylist’s cousin’s daughter, was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago.

Appearing on the show on Wednesday (14 December) with her mother and Wan, Alyssa shared the news of her recovery aided by an experimental treatment.

It involved inputting specially engineered cells into her body to attack and overwhelm the cancerous cells, and was the first time it had been used for this type of leukaemia.

O’Leary was keen to express how impressed he was by Alyssa’s maturity and bravery, and quoted her previous statement of wanting to make a difference by talking about her health journey.

In response, Alyssa agreed with her previous comments. “I just wanted to make a difference,” she echoed, adding: “What’s the point of having a life if it doesn’t really have any meaning?”

This brought O’Leary to visible tears. He took a brief pause to gather his thoughts before Hammond took over the interview.

Later in the segment, Alyssa took the opportunity to list all the people and organisations she was thankful for helping her while she was unwell. After hearing her thank yous, both presenters were teary-eyed, with Hammond questioning whether she was able to continue presenting.

“I don’t know if I can do it, you’ve really brought me to tears,” she said. “You’re such a giving person I can see that,” she added.

‘I just wanted to make a difference,’ says 14-year-old Alyssa (ITV This Morning)

Hammond then started reading out the details of a Harry Potter experience gift that the show had awarded Alyssa, before breaking down: “I can’t do it,” she said.

O’Leary then took over from Hammond, despite being visibly emotional.

The 14-year-old had a “common childhood leukaemia” but conventional methods of treatment – such as chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants – had failed to work.

Now, after receiving this new type of treatment, Alyssa has been told she is free from cancerous cells.

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Until recently, Alyssa’s mother said that “they were unable to control it”.

Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond (ITV / This Morning)

The implanted cells took 28 days to wipe out her cancerous cells, enabling her to have another bone marrow transplant.

“Just doing it, it would make such a difference to the world. Even if i didn’t survive it, my life would have had a meaning,” Alyssa said.

Last year, Wan shaved his head live on the show to raise £50,000 to support her treatment.

“You get given the most awful news and it just continues and it just gets worse and worse… And then all of a sudden to get the news that science has cured the leukaemia, it has been so shocking and mind-blowing,” said Wan.