This is devastating. Fans of Little Women: Dallas know Emily Fernandez had to deal with the unfortunate loss of her son, JJ, in August 2016 — and the reality star just exclusively opened up to In Touch about how it felt do mourn in the public eye.

"It was extremely difficult because when he passed away it had not played out yet on the show. People were still coming up to me asking how he was doing and what was going on — because on TV he was still in the hospital recovering and there was definitely a time we never expected anything like that to happen. It was hard, [with] people talking to [me] — and I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time I would break down," she explained.

"I think any mother would. When everything did come to light, people were very positive — but again, it's one of those things where you appreciate their respects and everything, but don't want to talk about that every day. I do appreciate when people are like, 'I'm really sorry, you're a really strong person,'" she continued. "It's awesome that they say that but at the same time, that's a really tough spot. I've gotten to the point where I can talk about it and I'm glad in a sense that if I helped anybody else through their experiences — because there are a lot of people that have kids and a lot of parents that have kids with special needs, and if they feel like I can do it and if it helps them, then that means a lot to me."

Emily, who originally stems from the Little Women: Atlanta franchise, did offer some wise words to parents who may experience the same heartbreaking situation. "At the end of the day, no matter what the doctor says, go with what your heart says and don't give up. Basically, he lived for three months, they told me the first month that it was pointless and he's never gonna get anywhere — and to me, I didn't care what they said," she recalled.

"I respected their opinions, but that's my child and my gut instinct was, 'I'm gonna give him whatever time, whatever chances he needs. I'm gonna sit there and I'm gonna fight with him every step of the way, and until he tells me he's done, then we're gonna keep going.' So go with your heart, go with your instincts, respect the doctors to some extent — get multiple opinions. Don't just listen to one doctor. Get different opinions. We called people in California, we called people in New York — like, I didn't care what one said. Even if five people told me there was no hope, I was going to call someone else and see what they say. So just keep fighting. That's your child."

Little Women: Dallas premieres Oct. 4, 2017, at 9 p.m. EST on Lifetime.

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