"My little mate": Ben Fordham shares devastating loss
Ben Fordham has broken down in tears live on his breakfast radio show while discussing a heartbreaking loss in his family.
Ben announced the death of his "little mate" Luca, the five-year-old son of his cousin Tori, on Ben Fordham Live on Tuesday morning.
After suffering an unexpected stroke in November 2020, Luca has been at the Children's Hospital in Randwick.
"I have been steeling myself to say this," Fordham started, already fighting back tears.
Ben said he "had a little bit of personal news", after he had previously spoke about Luca's ongoing condition.
"He's my little mate who's five years of age and he's the only child of my beautiful cousin Tori," Fordham continued.
"Sadly Luca has passed away over the weekend, and I want to tell you a little bit about what's happened to Luca," he said, pausing to fight back tears.
"And I'm gonna do my best to keep it together because it's obviously very sad."
Luca suffered the stroke on November 29th 2020, on Ben's birthday, just one day after he was fit and healthy after being at Fordham's mother's house "swimming with his cousins in the swimming pool".
"The next day he was running along kicking a soccer ball, and the next thing his legs just gave out from underneath him and he was airlifted from Wollongong to Sydney, where he went to the children's hospital and it was discovered he'd suffered a stroke," Fordham continued.
Ben said Luca suffered a "complete system breakdown" and remained in hospital fighting for his life until his death at the weekend.
"His mum Tori, who's a single mum with a lot of help from my mum and my sister, have been doing everything they can to get the best medical advice from around the world and that's been assisted in a great way by the children's hospital at Randwick," he continued.
"But there was just nothing they could do for him in the end, and he had several moments over the last year where things got very, very difficult for him because he'd get sick in hospital. He didn't have the strength to fight it."
Ben shared that he was visiting Luca on Saturday morning because "we knew his life was coming to an end".
"And he died on Saturday afternoon," Fordham shared.
Ben went on to thank the dedicated staff at Sydney Children's Hospital who did everything they could for Luca, before listing the names of some of the medical professionals who cared for Luca personally.
The radio host ended by praising his cousin Tori, saying, "How you've done it, we've got no idea."
Ben also shared the news to his Instagram account with several photos of Luca.
In his caption, he said, "We’ll miss Luca terribly and plan to farewell him on October 25th which would have been his 6th birthday."
He continued, "We send our love to all the other families who have kids stuck in hospital.
"Hang in there and hold them tight."
Image credits: Getty Images / Instagram @benfordham9