Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy's daughter, Sophia, was rushed to hospital after contracting a potentially fatal virus.
The model and her footballer husband recalled their horror, admitting that it was "terrifying" to see their child in such distress.
Abbey and her family were holidaying in Portugal when Sophia, 12, became unwell with the virus which causes inflammation to the layers of tissue covering the brain and around the spinal cord.
However, while the virus is rarely a deadly condition, some people who contract it can suffer lifelong effects which could alter their way of life.
Those experiencing symptoms should be treated immediately in a bid to get the virus under control.
Abbey and Peter's son, Jack, three, was also experiencing coughing symptoms on the family retreat.
Speaking on The Therapy Crouch podcast, Liverpool born Abbey said: "The school holidays have been tough.
"We got to Portugal and Sophia was in hospital with meningitis which was just the scariest thing on earth.
"Being in a foreign hospital, language barriers, the words like meningitis being thrown around, lumbar punctures, brain scans.
"It was horrific - I felt so vulnerable - and scary. But I must say the medical care over there were just out of this world."
The TV personality went on to add: "These things always happen on a Sunday at one o'clock in the morning, just to add to that fear and that scariness of the situation, it can never be a normal hour.
"With Sophia I just knew something was wrong, like it wasn't like a normal bug. I was going to Pete 'say meningitis', and it was. I actually couldn't believe it.
"So then having three babies at home I was thinking 'what if they catch it?', we were on like high alert, we didn't sleep at all."
"I was watching every child like a hawk, it was just terrifying," she explained.
Following Sophia's illness, Abbey and Peter were left in a state of disbelief after their other three children all fell ill with "flu and coughs".
Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Abbey went on to explain that she had slept "four hours" in around 30 hours and had "never been so scared", while Peter added: "That was just because we were so worried about Sophia, when he started coughing we felt like we had to take him."
The couple spent their holiday doing "shifts" to be with Sophia and their children at separate times but things became even trickier after they arrived home.
Abbey explained: "We got home from Portugal all exhausted, then get into bed, everyone's asleep and then Liberty comes in and goes 'Mum, dad, I feel like I've got the vomiting bug'.
"And Pete went 'F**k this, I can't be a***d with his', and he just stood up and walked out of the room and went into another bedroom."
