Prince William gives special surprise to shielding mother and son

A family in Northamptonshire who has been shielding at home as a member falls in the extremely vulnerable group for coronavirus infection was recently in for a huge surprise. Leanne, who has been isolating at her home in Corby with five-year-old son Kaydyn as he has cystic fibrosis, covered her mouth with her hands in shock when she received a video call from Britain's Prince William.

Prince William, who has been isolating with wife Kate Middleton and children Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two at their country home Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, spoke to Leanne and Kaydyn about their struggles amid coronavirus pandemic, reports BBC.

The video call made by the Duke of Cambridge forms part of a film focusing on the challenges of extremely vulnerable people who were advised to remain at home as much as possible as it is harder for them to recover from the COVID-19 illness due to low immunity. The footage will feature on BBC One's "The One Show" on Tuesday.

"Is it even more hard and frustrating for you guys bearing in mind the lockdown is starting to ease a little bit?" the Duke asked during the call to which Leanne replied: "Yeah, and of course Kaydyn heard that on the news and he was like "Oh can we go out now?" And I was like no we can't so he's now like, "Why can everyone else go out and I can't?"

More than 2.2 million extremely vulnerable people shielding from the virus at their home were allowed to step outside from the start of June, as the situation started improving in the United Kingdom. Leanne and Kaydyn have been outside twice since then for country walks but the 5-year-old is "very nervous about leaving the house."

The video call by William comes days after he revealed that he received training by a mental health charity and had been anonymously volunteering on a crisis helpline during the lockdown. The 37-year-old shared his secret that he had been answering messages at Shout 85258, which offers support via text message to people in personal crisis.

The BBC episode will show the story of another shielding person Shelby Lynch, a 21-year-old woman from Leeds who has spinal muscular atrophy type 2 and is on a ventilator 24 hours a day. The show will feature the moment Shelby stepped out from her home for a socially distanced meeting with her boyfriend for the first time in weeks. "He had been feeling a little down so it was nice to see his face light up," she said.