Strictly Come Dancing professional Gorka Marquez likened the chaotic moment in his and Gemma Atkinson’s household to “a movie scene” as he spoke of dealing with it all alone
Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez have spoken of the “chaos” they recently faced when their six-year-old daughter, Mia, fell ill. In a new episode of their podcast Lost In Translation, Strictly Come Dancing ’s Gorka recalled dealing with “blood everywhere” and having to call an ambulance while Gemma was away for work.
Addressing the situation, Gemma, who turns 41 today, explained that Mia had told her she wasn’t feeling well before she headed off to London for work.
Not thinking much of it at the time, the radio host told her first born not to worry and suggested watching a movie, in the hope she’d feel better later on.
As Gemma made her way to the capital however, she recalled Gorka calling her to tell her that Mia’s symptoms had worsened.
Speaking alongside her fiancé, she told listeners: “I get to my hotel, I’m a nervous wreck and then you ring me and say, ‘Your mum’s here, we’re taking her her to the out of hours’. And this was all before my first day filming for the channel.
“Your first time on your own with her being ill, you actually rung an ambulance at one point,” she recalled. “You were marvellous in that situation.”
Gorka went on to say as he waited for the doctor to call back, Mia fell asleep, so he assumed she was fine – until she woke up coughing and struggling to breathe.
He recalled: “I’m on the phone telling them, ‘Listen, she’s not well’ and because she was coughing from the cough, she started bleeding through her nose, so she had a nose bleed.
“And then I remember, I was sorting everything out and I was like, ‘Please, just send an ambulance’.” After some more back and forth on the phone, he additionally informed them she was “bleeding through the nose and coughing”.
“Anyway, everything gets sorted, we go to the appointment to the doctor within the hour and then Gemma Facetimes me to ask if if everything was okay’.
“And the scene was Mia crying,” he recalled, to which Gemma chimed in: “Blood everywhere.” He added: “Bleeding through her nose everywhere, me holding her, she was crying. I was with the phone full of blood and I was like, ‘Don’t panic, it’s nothing bad’.
“And then I call her and the floor was full of blood because she was vomiting also”. The dancer went on to liken the dramatic moment to “a movie scene”, as Gemma continued: “And it was all while I was away, that’s what was annoying.”
After receiving medical attention, the pair’s daughter was given steroids for croup and antibiotics for a respiratory tract infection, all while battling a cough and cold.
Giving an update, the pair confirmed that their daughter is now thankfully “all fine”, though claimed another member of their family now had similar symptoms.
“So, it’s been a bit of chaos, but I’m glad that you got through all of it, you took the appreciation of what it’s like for me on my own,” Gemma told Gorka, to which he replied: “Yeah, I always appreciate it, but it makes me appreciate it even more.”
The couple, who are also parents to two-year-old son Tiago, met while competing separately on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2017.
After romance blossomed, they made their relationship official the following year and got engaged in 2021.
Recently opening up about their wedding plans, Gemma told Heat Magazine: “We will be getting married.
