The Repair Shop viewers were left in floods of tears over the Christmas episode (Picture: BBC)
The Repair Shop viewers were left in floods of tears during this year’s Christmas episode and it was all thanks to a record player and Abba.
Jo Thomas arrived at the workshop to meet Jay Blades and Mark Stuckey, bringing with her an ‘extremely special’ record player that was given to her as a gift by son Ben.
Sadly, it was the last present she ever received from her boy, who died from cancer aged 11 on January 6, 2006.
‘He bought me this with his own money because music was a big thing for us and he loved his music,’ Jo shared.
‘Me and Ben used to listen to records and we used to dance around and, as soon as you put the record player on, he’d just start beaming at you.’
Sharing more about her late son with a smile on her face, Jo said: ‘Ben was amazing. A very wanted little boy, let me tell you. And then, on his 10th birthday, he wasn’t himself.
Jo Thomas brought in a record player gifted to her by her son before he died (Picture: BBC)
Her son Ben was 10 when he was diagnosed with cancer (Picture: BBC)
He had to have his leg amputated, but was later told his cancer was terminal (Picture: BBC)
‘A 10-year-old doesn’t sit in their mummy’s lap or their daddy’s lap. I could feel this heat on his right leg, just above his knee, so went to the hospital. They did the X-ray and a week later, we had the phone call to say that it was cancer, osteosarcoma, and that we needed to go and have chemotherapy.
‘We did chemo for Ben but he didn’t react very well to it. He was very, very poorly. And then we finished the chemo but, unfortunately, the chemo hadn’t worked and the cancer came back. The only way for them to do anything was to amputate his right leg, right up to his hip.’
Jo went on to say that her son ‘never once moaned’ and maintained a positive attitude as he practised walking again following his amputation. He even joked to his school friends that a shark bit off his leg when he was holidaying in Australia.
Sadly, after his op in April, that September, Ben was told that his cancer had spread to his lung and it was terminal.
Mark Stuckey and Jay Blades were more than happy to help breathe new life into Jo’s beloved Christmas gift, the last one she received from Ben (Picture: BBC)
They totally transformed the player, even adding legs (Picture: BBC)
That Christmas, Ben decided to buy his mum the record player and surprise her with it on the big day which she, of course, ‘cried [her] eyes out’ over.
Heartbreakingly, after their last Christmas together in 2005, Ben died weeks later.
Having felt like she would never celebrate Christmas ever again, Jo still views Christmas as a special time with ‘beautiful memories’, but wanted to get her beloved record player fixed, particularly so she could listen to Abba, which was Ben’s favourite band, specifically the song Slipping Through My Fingers.
So, the team got to work, mending the record player which Jo believed was beyond hope.
Later on in the show, the finished product was revealed, with the record player fully functioning once more and even with legs on as per Jo’s request, as she finds bending over difficult due to arthritis.
Reacting to the transformation, she burst into floods of tears, along with Ben’s dad Darren.
‘Oh my God!’, she exclaimed. ‘Wow. I’m ecstatic!’
Slipping Through My Fingers was Ben’s favourite song, so it was only fitting for it to be the first one played (Picture: BBC)
Jo and Ben’s dad were so emotional as they remembered him (Picture: BBC)
Jo said listening to the Abba song will always remind her of Ben now (Picture: BBC)
For one last surprise, Jay and Mark brought out a record to show Jo what the newly refurbished player could do – it was, of course, Slipping Through My Fingers.
Jo gasped in disbelief as she heard the tune playing and remembered her late son.
‘That’s our favourite song. He loves this song. It’s just perfect,’ she said, wiping her eyes and thanking the team for their hard work.
‘I know that as soon as I sit down and I play that record, Ben will be with me. I’ll feel him.’
Reacting to the precious scenes, social media users were also bawling.
‘My goodness sobbing at this Abba song on #repairshop thinking of this lady’s son and feeling such huge loss at Christmas’, wrote Rachael Santangelo.
‘That episode of #therepairshop nearly finished me. The record player and the ABBA song- such a lovely way for that mum to remember her son’, wrote user MrsWubbleyou.
Another said they were ‘crying like a baby’ while one viewer hailed it as ‘one of the most poignant things I’ve seen on the show.’
TV personality India Willoughby wrote: ‘These stories on #ChristmasRepairShop. Ben’s record player. His mum is so strong’.
Catch up on The Repair Shop on BBC iPlayer.
Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.
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The record player Ben bought for his mum before he died aged 11 was magically fixed.