'We really loved you': Emotional farewell to Emily Morgan at ITV News health editor's funeral

Mourners have paid tribute to the late ITV News health and science editor Emily Morgan at her funeral today, where she was described as a "joy" to all around her.

The journalist, wife, and mother, whose career spanned two decades, died aged 45 shortly after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

She passed away on Friday, May 26, surrounded by her family.On Wednesday, family, friends, and colleagues attended her funeral at the same church in Gloucestershire where she married her husband Rob.

As health editor, Emily led ITV News' coronavirus coverage in Britain and abroad. She reported tirelessly from the frontline, taking audiences inside hospitals throughout the pandemic and covering the tragedies and triumphs of that gruelling period.

She produced multiple investigations into racial prejudice, PPE failures and Long Covid, during the pandemic.

Reflecting on the challenges of covering the pandemic in 2021, Emily said: "It isn’t easy reporting on deaths, especially large numbers. What every death is not, is a statistic. Yet, with so many, the fear is each one gets added in with another and they become a blur of numbers."

"That is why it is so important to reflect on individual cases, speak to family and friends, use victims’ names, photos and memories. It is impossible to do this with every one but crucial to do it with as many as possible."

While Emily was proud of her work, her greatest source of pride was her family, including her two young daughters.

She told many colleagues at work that she wanted to be remembered, not as a journalist, but as a mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend. "They are the things that matter," Emily said.

ITV News presenter Tom Bradby, told the gathering at Emily's funeral service: "It was such a joy knowing her, as a work colleague and as a friend.

"There wasn't a day that I spent with her where she didn't bring a great deal of joy and epic amounts of laughter into my life. Nothing gave me as much joy - few things in my working life have given me as much joy - as watching her fall in love with Rob and have two wonderful daughters who she talked about constantly and adored.

"So finally then, what I can really say, is a version of what I said in my tribute on News at Ten to Emily, farewell my friend, we did know you and we really loved you."