X FACTOR winner Sam Bailey says she’s been left with anxiety following her son’s recent health battles.

Teenager Tommy, 15, who is living with autism, was recently diagnosed by medics as having epilepsy.

Speaking about the impact the last few weeks has had, Sam said: “He’s doing alright, he’s coping really, really well.  But it is tough. It is a really, really tough time, and it’s not something that’s easy to deal with

“Tommy takes everything in his stride, it’s me that has the anxiety, he just gets on with it but you know he has days where he really struggles and it’s hard, it really is. It’s not easy.”

Sam said the battles her son is going through was one reason she is supporting a new charity campaign.

She’s taken up a role as an ambassador for Children’s Activities Week and has been helping to raise money for the cause and for the charity Caudwell Children.

Sam said: “Without the opportunity to sing and perform as a child I wouldn’t be where I am today. That’s why supporting an industry that encourages those extracurricular activities for young children really excites me. That’s why I wanted to get involved with the charity and offer my support.

“I’d encourage people to donate as little or as much as they can as it makes such a huge difference to the work that can be done to support those who really, really need it.”

Sam’s comments come weeks after a TV interview in which she told how doctors had previously been unable to help her son Tommy with his autism.

Things became so bad that Tommy, even became suicidal because he wasn’t getting the help he needed.

Speaking in a GB News  interview last month she said: “I knew the transition from primary school to secondary school was going to be difficult for him. And I think as parents we were kind of in denial that there was anything untoward that was different or anything and we were told that he would really struggle and to get a diagnosis.

“I actually went private to get his diagnosis and by doing that it was a quicker process, but after that diagnosis was the hard part because you have to kind of prove that he can’t be in a mainstream school. He would bang his head against the wall. He really, really struggled at school.

“He didn’t go for a year and a half. He really really struggled and didn’t have an education. He just festered at home and put on weight. He was threatening to take his life. So it was a really, really tough time and I went to the doctors on my own and said to the doctors, I’m really concerned about my son. I said I’m really concerned about my son, because of how he’s been. I was like, you know, he’s saying some stuff and they said that we can’t deal with this.

“There needs to be autism outreach and they turned me away. I’ve got a letter to say that the GP turned my son away because he was feeling low and told us to go to the National Autistic Society. I was absolutely baffled by it.”

To donate and support Sam visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/caw24