Actor James Murray reveals he found a new "purpose in life" following the tragic death of his baby daughter.
The Cutting It star, 43, and wife Sarah Parish , 50, were devastated by the loss of Ella-Jayne, who died aged just eight months old of a rare heart defect.
Speaking on This Morning on Tuesday, host Eamonn Holmes asked James if his grief had renewed his "purpose in life", to which he replied: "Absolutely."
James spoke about his loss and setting up the Murray Parish Trust in 2014, which raises money for paediatric facilities across the south of England, as he promoted his new TV show Age Before Beauty.
He continued: "It puts, what I do as a day job… I’m very lucky I’m being paid to do something vocational.
"But running the Trust, and raising funds for this much-needed facility, kind of puts everything into a distant second."
James was joined on the This Morning sofa by co-star Lisa Riley.
The actor and his wife were heartbroken when they found Ella-Jayne lifeless in her cot in January 2009, after much of her short life was spent in the Southampton General Hospital.
Mistresses actress Sarah was thrilled to find out she was pregnant at 40, with the pair tying the knot in Hampshire before the birth.
However, during a routine late scan, doctors grew concerned and performed an emergency caesarean section, with Ella-Jayne arriving five weeks early in May 2008.
Doctors diagnosed the newborn with a rare condition called Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS), which mean she was likely to develop mental disabilities and have higher risk of heart conditions.
Ella-Jayne spent the first four months of her life in hospital, later returning several times for operations.
Following their heartbreak, the couple went on to have a second daughter Nell in November 2009.
In January this year, the Trust reached the halfway point to raise £2million for a new state-of-the-art Children’s Emergency & Trauma Department at Southampton University Hospital.
James and Sarah successfully lobbied the Government two years ago to match the £2million raised for the £4million needed to build the department, which will help critically ill children across nine counties, from Devon to West Sussex.
In May this year, Sarah paid tribute to her late daughter on what would have been her 10th birthday.
She wrote: "Happy Birthday to my darling little Ella-Jayne. You would have been 10 today. Your little life has achieved so much and I am eternally proud and grateful to have known and loved you. Mummy. #themurrayparishtrust."
Sarah previously revealed she and her husband wrote Ella-Jayne a birthday card every year.
Earlier this year, the actress broke her leg while trying to snowboard on a plastic sledge. Sharing an image of her being tended to by paramedics on Instagram, she wrote: "Note to self: cheap plastic sledges are for sitting in and gently trundling down primary slopes NOT a substitute for a stand up snowboard."
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