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Loose Women's Gloria Hunniford held back tears as she talked about her late daughter Caron Keating on Wednesday's show.
The presenter, 81, discussed how she tries to 'keep her alive in spirit' on her birthday and other milestones for the sake of Caron's sons Charlie and Gabriel.
Caron was diagnosed with breast cancer aged just 34 and passed away from the disease in 2004 aged 41, after a seven year fight.
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During a discussion about how to deal with milestones in your life after you lose a loved one, Gloria said: 'The first one [milestone] is agonising.
'When we lost Caron - and her anniversary was just last week - I was determined in my own head, that her children, Charlie and Gabriel would mark occasions like Mother's Day, like Christmas, like her birthday.
'But on the date of her passing I try to keep it quite light.'
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She went on to explain how balloons left over from her 80th birthday helped mark the special occasion.
She said: 'The '80' balloon was really big so I thought I'm going to let them off for Caron.
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'So when the boys were there we said 'let's send these to mum' - we cut them loose and they went so high because they were filled with helium.
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'So we have fun times - we've been know to tie balloons to the gravestone, to send rockets off with little messages in them...'
She added: 'I always think of the phrase 'people never die if they live on the lips on the living'.
'And that's why I always like to talk about Caron to keep her alive in spirit and for her two boys.
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'It's really important for me that they learn - cause they're now in their 20s and I think for parents, grandparents in my case, you have to remind them that these days should be thought of.'
Caron was a television presenter who joined the Blue Peter team in the 1980s.
Gloria built up The Caron Keating Foundation in the wake of her daughter's death.
She has previously discussed how Caron's positive attitude had helped her loved ones cope with the devastating diagnosis.
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Gloria said: 'Caron never talked about losing her battle - she only ever talked about life. Her whole attitude to cancer was positivity. We all tapped in to that, and she became the teacher.'
She continued to say that at times she almost felt like there was 'nothing wrong' as their life was filled with so much fun.
Statistics show that just 4% out of the 55,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year are under 40-years-old.
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