The former BBC Breakfast presenter became overwhelmed from the support shown by fans who offered their well wishes as he fought back the tears.
Wiping his eyes, Bill mused: “Reading these [messages] is taking me back to that day and I also find that people who show me love, make me like this,” before he added: “That’s what it does”.
The TV anchor fronted his Channel 4 documentary which followed his quest to find treatments for his cancer diagnosis.
Speaking to Radio Times about the programme, he said: “If you’re going to make a documentary about yourself when you’ve got an incurable disease, you know you’re going to be exposing quite a lot of your private life.