The Repair Shop star breaks down in tears over mum’s last gift from son, 11, before his tragic death in emotional scenes
A STAR of The Repair Shop broke down in tears as a mum revealed her final gift from her 11-year-son before his tragic death.
Jo Thomas was the first to enter the shop as the Christmas special kicked off.
She brought along a broken record player that held great sentimental value to her.
It had been gifted to Jo by her 11-year-old son called Ben before his tragic passing with cancer.
“It was the last gift he ever gave me because unfortunately he got ill,” she said.
Speaking to Jay Blades and Mark Stuckey, Jo explained: “I could feel this heat on his right leg just above his knee.
“So we went to the hospital and then they did the X-ray for us, and I think it was a week later we had the phone call to say that it was cancer osteosarcoma and that we needed to go and have chemotherapy.”
The heartbroken mum revealed Ben didn’t respond well to the treatment and later ended up having his leg removed.
In a devastating turn of events, Jo was given the news no parent wants to hear – her son’s condition was terminal.
She recalled: “We brought him in and then we see the doctor and she said ‘I’m really sorry, it’s in the lung’.
“Then we got the proper diagnosis on the 30th of September to say that it’s terminal we can’t do anything for him.”
That Christmas was there last as a family, with Ben buying his mum the record player with his own money.
As Mark got to work on restoring the treasured piece, he started to well up, saying: “We’ve gotta get it working, haven’t we?
“So I’ve gotta open it up, have a look and see what’s inside.
“It’s hard to imagine that 11-year-old boy Ben actually bought this for his mum knowing that he wasn’t gonna be around in those years later for her still to enjoy it and leaving this behind for her.”
Later on in the episode Jo returned to discover they had in fact managed to fix the record player, as she burst into tears hearing Ben’s favourite ABBA song Slipping Through My Fingers play out.
Host Jay asked her: “Will you be playing this over Christmas?”
She replied: “We’re gonna have family around, and I’m gonna just put the record player on, and you know it’ll be We’ll be dancing to it.”
The Repair Shop viewers were left in tears by the scenes, with one posting: “Ben’s story has got me in tears.”
A second commented: “Ok, I’m crying at this lady talking about her son.”
While a third penned: “Oh man, the tears are really flowing. Poor Ben.”
The Repair Shop is available now on BBC iPlayer.