Jackie O breaks down in tears as Pete Deppeler bravely reveals his mother’s cancer battle

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson became emotional as their co-worker Pete Deppeler bravely spoke about his beloved mother’s cancer battle on the KIIS FM radio show on Friday.  

Pete, also known as ‘Intern Pete’ to listeners, broke down as he called in and updated the duo about how his mother Helen is doing as she fights terminal liver cancer. 

The heart-wrenching moment quickly got the better of Jackie, 46, who cried while listening to Pete, and was even left lost for words and unable to present her O-News segment shortly after the phone call.  

Heartbreaking: Jackie ‘O’ Henderson broke down in tears on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday as her emotional co-worker Pete Deppeler spoke about his mother’s battle with terminal liver cancer live on air. Pete is pictured with his mother Helen

After the call, Jackie said she often fears the moment she might lose her mum and said she feels for Pete and his family.   

‘It makes you realise spend that extra minute cuddling your loved ones and don’t dodge those calls,’ Kyle said.

Jackie added through tears: ‘I always think about that Kyle, and I don’t want my biggest regret to be I missed my mum’s call or was too busy as when they’re gone, you’d do anything for that phone call.’  

Emotional: The heart-wrenching moment got the better of Jackie, 46, who cried while listening to Pete and was even left lost for words and unable to present her O-News shortly after the phone call

Emotional: The heart-wrenching moment got the better of Jackie, 46, who cried while listening to Pete and was even left lost for words and unable to present her O-News shortly after the phone call

Pete recently rushed down to Victoria from Sydney to visit his mother and spend time with her.

He called into the show on Friday to give the pair and listeners an update. 

Pete said he first found out his mother Helen had been diagnosed with liver cancer in April, on the day of producer Pedro Cuccovillo’s wedding. 

He has been on personal leave for six weeks and is down in rural Victoria on his family’s farm after getting an exemption to cross the border and after having completed two weeks of quarantine.   

‘Funnily enough, it was on the day of Pedro’s wedding day, mum rang me and said she has liver cancer and it’s not good,’ Pete began. 

Family first: Pete has been on personal leave for six weeks and is down in rural Victoria on his family's farm, after getting an exemption to cross the border and after having completed two weeks of quarantine

Family first: Pete has been on personal leave for six weeks and is down in rural Victoria on his family’s farm, after getting an exemption to cross the border and after having completed two weeks of quarantine

Kyle said he understood the diagnosis, as his late father died of the devastating disease.  

‘The cancer was huge, but she wanted to have a crack at the chemo… they said at the end of the day, let’s have a try at this, if we get that, we might have a few more months,’ Pete said. 

Pete explained that doctors recently stopped the chemotherapy as although it was working against the cancer, it was ‘killing everything else’.

Pete broke down in tears as he spoke about his sick mother, saying he’s struggling to come to terms with it all.

 

So sad: Kyle said he understood the liver cancer diagnosis as his late father died of the devastating disease

So sad: Kyle said he understood the liver cancer diagnosis as his late father died of the devastating disease

‘It’s the first time I spoke about it probably… I’m struggling with mum, I don’t think I’m accepting it to be honest,’ he heartbreakingly explained.  

‘She struggles, there are days she doesn’t know where she is and doesn’t know who I am and gets really confused and stuff, but we put her in hospital yesterday to bring her calcium down,’ he explained. 

‘But we don’t want to keep hurting her. We don’t know how long we have left, she keeps fighting,’ he added.

Kyle and Jackie expressed how sorry they were to hear the news and gave their support to Pete. 

‘I’m so sorry to here all this Peter,’ Kyle said.  

'It's the first time I spoke about it probably... I'm struggling with mum, I don't think I'm accepting it to be honest,' Pete said during the heartbreaking call

‘It’s the first time I spoke about it probably… I’m struggling with mum, I don’t think I’m accepting it to be honest,’ Pete said during the heartbreaking call 

Meanwhile, Jackie described Pete’s mother as an ‘incredible woman’. 

‘It’s very hard to talk about it your mum, you know who much we love her, she’s been apart of our show… she’s an incredible woman,’ Jackie said.      

‘It’s never easy going through something like this. I can’t imagine how much strength it takes to just be there everyday and try and keep everyone’s spirits up and at the same time you’re struggling,’ she added.  

Pete has been a reporter and producer with Kyle and Jackie O since 2013 and is now the National Talent Manager at ARN.  

Familiar face: Pete has been a reporter and producer with Kyle and Jackie O since 2013 and is now the National Talent Manager at ARN

Familiar face: Pete has been a reporter and producer with Kyle and Jackie O since 2013 and is now the National Talent Manager at ARN

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk