SAIRA Khan burst into tears on Loose Women today as she admitted she is "so grateful" she had fertility problems - because it led her to adopting her daughter Amara.
Having struggled to conceive a second child with IVF, the 48-year-old star travelled to Pakistan seven years ago where she visited an orphanage that allows foreigners to adopt newborn babies.
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Saira Khan opened up about her adoption journey on Loose Women todayCredit: ITV
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Loose Women viewers saw Saira Khan visit an orphanage in PakistanCredit: ITV
Viewers saw documentary footage of Saira meeting her daughter Amara before she opened up about her adoption journey and told the panel: "Oh my goodness, I haven't see that for such a long time.
"She was tiny. All I remember is when they put her in my arms, she was mine. But you know, going through the adoption process for nine months, I realised, 'This is the moment it kicks in."
Explaining how the orphanage finds babies, she said: "They have mobile stations set up around the country with cradles that have signs over them that say, 'Please do not kill your baby, leave it here and we will look after it.'
Saira broke down in tears, adding: "I'm going to take this moment to say, whoever is out there, thank you for bringing Amara and putting her in that cradle."
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Loose Women viewers saw the star burst into tearsCredit: ITV
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Saira Khan's baby daughter Amara was abandoned in PakistanCredit: ITV
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Saira opened up for the first time about adopting baby Amara
Viewers were in bits over the segment, as many admitted they cried along with Saira.
One person wrote on Twitter: "Ah saira I'm crying. We need people like you in this world."
Another gushed: "Sweetest story! Amara is gorgeous! What a woman Saira is!"
A third person said: "Saira talking about when she first held her adopted baby girl brought tears to my eyes how wonderful."
And another viewer added: "Saira and her daughter look very similar to each other, you wouldn’t know that they’re not biologically related"
Saira went on to explain that she had to make the decision whether to take Amara, who became ill in the days after she was adopted, back to the UK.
She said: "As I left, the lady at the orphanage said, 'If there is anything wrong with her bring her back and we'll give you a newborn."
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Saira Khan adopted a baby from a charity that sets up cradles around Pakistan to allow women to safely hand their babies inCredit: ITV
Saira, who also has Zac, ten, with her husband Steve, added: "I took her to the hospital (in Pakistan) and they turned round and to me and said, 'Look you may want to turn your cameras off because this is very touch and go.'
"At that point they rushed her into intensive care and put drips on her.
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Saira's daughter Amara joined her on set at the end of the segmentCredit: ITV
"The doctor said, 'What do you want to do, do you want to take the baby back?' and I looked at him and said, 'This baby is mine. Whatever happens with her I am taking her back to the UK.'
"She was in intensive care for seven days. Every day I'd go back. 'Does she have HIV? No, she's cleared. Is her heart OK? Yes, it's OK. Is her skull developing?'
"Zac was two, Steve had to stay behind. I had no family there. But it is something about a mother, that tiger thing. All this stuff was going on. But I blocked all of that out, and thought, 'She's going to survive.'"
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