John Stapleton's son says 'dad lived life until the very end' in emotional update

Morning Live presenters Gaby Roslin and Rhys Stephenson kicked off Friday's programme with some heartbreaking news.

The pair spoke about cherished broadcaster John Stapleton, who had become a treasured part of the Morning Live team.

John died aged 79 over the weekend, with his representative releasing a statement. It read, "John had Parkinson's disease, which was complicated by pneumonia.

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"His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa have been constantly at his side, and John died peacefully in hospital this morning," reports Wales Online.

John's son, Nick, who frequently appears on the BBC, opened up for the first time about his father and revealed that he "lived life until the very end."

Gaby started, "Now, earlier this week on the show, we paid tribute to Nick's father, legendary broadcaster John Stapleton, who died over the weekend.

"John became a much-loved part of the Morning Live family, and Nick, I know you wanted to be on today to share the response that you've had this week."

Nick appeared moved as he told the presenters, "Yeah, I felt like it was important for me just to be here to say thank you to everybody who's sent lovely messages and written incredibly nice tributes and all the articles that I've read.

"It has obviously been a really, really tough week, but it's been overwhelming and incredibly nice to read all of it. So thank you, everyone."

Rhys continued by discussing the remarkable influence Nick's father had following his brave decision to reveal his Parkinson's diagnosis.

The presenter explained, "Your dad's continued to have a huge effect on people, as Parkinson's UK has said that they've seen a surge in people coming forward for support ever since John went public with his diagnosis last year, to the point where they're calling it the Stapleton effect, which is an incredible legacy."

Nick nodded in agreement, confessing, "I'm so happy about this, because I think when he got his diagnosis, I remember Dad and me sitting down in his living room, and we had a conversation about what Mum would have done and how we could try and turn this negative into a positive.

"And I hope that by spreading awareness about Parkinson's and telling positive stories about it, we have helped other people who are living with it manage."

Nick then revealed his father's final moments and how he "lived wholly independently until the last two weeks of his life".

He added, " He did the work, he did the physiotherapy, he did the speech therapy, and I hope that his experience shows that if you are living with Parkinson's, if you do put that work in, I mean, everybody's experience of it is different, right, but it is potentially still possible to lead the life that you love and still to do the things that you love.

"And like dad and I, we still went to the football together, you know, I had to help him balance towards the end, but we still did it. We still went for dinners together.

"It was a little harder to understand the things he was saying for me and my wife sometimes, but like none of that mattered, he still lived the life he wanted to lead right up until the very end."

BBC Morning Live airs weekdays at 9.30am on BBC One.