Brave Alison Lapper broke down in tears on today's This Morning while opening up on the sudden death of her son.
The inspirational artist, 54, described the heartbreaking moment she discovered her son Parys Lapper had died.
The 19-year-old, who had been sectioned at the age of 17 after a long-standing battle with anxiety and depression, was found dead in a hotel in Sussex last month.
Alison is urging for the government to do more for children with mental health issues and wants to stop other parents go through her "living hell".
Opening up, motional Alison said: "All I want is my boy back and I can’t. That's what I really want. What can I do to make it not happen…it's any parents worst nightmare and I’m living it. It's hell.
"I don't know how I feel. I feel numb. Devastated. I’ve lost my boy. He was a young man and he had a lot to give. And I don’t have that anymore."
Alison, who was born with no arms and shortened legs, posed nude while pregnant with her son for a piece of artwork by Marc Quinn which was placed on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square in 2005.
The artist had spent a wonderful day in Brighton with her son shortly before he was found dead on August 13 in a hotel room in Worthing.
Describing the awful moment she found at he had died, Alison said: "I was actually in the bathroom at the time and someone came through and said 'the police are here'.
"I said 'what's he done now'. Then the atmosphere in my room,, I realised this isn't something light here. Then they said he was found dead."
After pausing to gather her thoughts, Alison bravely continued: "I was in complete denial. 'You’ve got the wrong person. It can’t be him. He's only 19. We spoke on the phone. How could this have happened?'
"There were no warning signs. Nothing."
She said Parys's mental health began to be affected when he started secondary school in Sussex and pupils would give him strange looks because of her disability.
Alison decided to have her son sectioned and was "bawling her eyes out" as she followed him in her van to the unit.
She wants major changes to the mental health care system as she believes no one unit was able to cover her son's needs.
Alison added: "There needs to be a unit dedicated from maybe eight years to 25 for young people. They can go be safe, feel safe, treated with respect and not like they're liars and all the issue sorted out under one roof.
"With him they wouldn’t let him do the mental health and drug thing together. They go hand in hand. You can't just tackle one without the other. I got so many people in agencies but it just didn't work because people didn’t really work together that well and he wa still being shunted from pillar to post."
This Morning viewers took to Twitter after watching the emotional interview.
One viewer said: "In tears so so sorry and shocked to hear about Alison’s son Parys. I always remember watching the your story on child of our time,such a beautiful boy,my heart goes out you Alison xx"
Another added: "So sad to watch Alison today. I remember how overjoyed she was at giving birth to her son. I share her frustrations. The lack of proper support for both young adults and disabled people in this highly developed "empathetic" country appeals me."
A third said: "I went through a similar situation at school and I’m still fighting through my problems to this day due to a failed system. What a strong and inspiring woman Alison Lapper is for sharing her sons story, more needs to be done in schools"
*This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10.30am
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