X Factor winner Sam Bailey worries fans with hospital photo of son covered in bruises

Sam Bailey, who shares three kids with husband Craig Pearson, won The X Factor back in 2013, and has enjoyed a successful career on stage, including a stint as Mrs Potts in the Beauty and the Beast musical

X Factor winner Sam Bailey has worried fans after uploading a photo of her son covered in bruises in hospital.

The 47-year-old, who won the ITV singing competition in 2013, shared the heartbreaking snaps on Instagram, as she raised awareness of epilepsy. Her eldest son Tommy, 15, suffers from the neurological condition, and Sam posted a slideshow of photos highlighting how difficult it has been for the teenager to live with his diagnosis.

The singer, who shares Tommy, Brooke and Miley with husband Craig Pearson, posted candid - and agonising - photos of Tommy being attended to by paramedics, with bruises on his face after an epileptic fit, and recovering in hospital. “This month is epilepsy awareness month! So here I am, showing you how traumatic it has been for us the last year!” she began.

“Anyone who needs to understand epilepsy, just know this… as a family we are like sitting ducks everyday, wondering when he will have his next one. He is on medication in which we have to administer twice a day, Tommy will forget if we don’t physically put it in his mouth. He gets tired, he gets frustrated with me wrapping him in cotton wool but that is all I know how to do,” Sam explained, adding that her youngest daughter “can’t even be in the same room” as her big brother over fears he will have another seizure.

“We worry every second of every day and yet Tommy just takes it all in his stride!” the proud mum wrote. “This is our ‘normal’ I would like to say a huge Thank you to @emasnhstrust and @youngepilepsy for being amazing and Tom’s epilepsy nurses and consultant , without of which I would be loosing my marbles around about now!”

Earlier this year, Sam gave her fans an update on Tommy’s health, and confessed it had been a “very scary time” for the family after her eldest son had a string of seizures over Christmas. “I’m just sitting here watching him and reflecting on out time the last few months. Here he is wearing his epilepsy watch which we have had to buy since he had several seizures in December. It’s been a very scary time for us especially witnessing a VERY bad seizure on Christmas Day,” she explained.

She admitted that Tommy’s autism has also made controlling his epilepsy harder, and he’s struggled with his parents “watching him constantly and fussing over him so much more”. Sam continued: “We don’t know what has caused them, we don’t know when another one will happen. We have all done research on seizures and have had lots of advice. Trying not to be “google doctors” but it’s so difficult when you don’t know what is causing your son to have these horrendous seizures so suddenly.”

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