Jonnie Irwin has opened up about his tragic battle with terminal cancer, and revealed that he has ‘removed himself’ from the family home at times in order to help care for his excruciating pain.
Irwin is best known for his presenting work on shows such as A Place in the Sun and Escape to the Country. He started off his career in estate management, before applying for a chance to present A Place in the Sun alongside Jasmine Harman. Irwin was selected for the show from hundreds of applicants, and has been a mainstay of British property programming ever since.
However, back in 2020, Irwin announced the heartbreaking news that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Then in November of last year, Irwin revealed that the cancer was terminal.
He told Hello: “I don’t know how long I have left, but I try to stay positive and my attitude is that I’m living with cancer, not dying from it. I set little markers – things I want to be around for […] I’m doing everything I can to hold that day off for as long as possible. I owe that to Jess and our boys. Some people in my position have bucket lists, but I just want us to do as much as we can as a family.”
The forty-nine-year-old recently revealed that he is yet to tell his young children about the cancer. Irwin has 3 children with his wife Jessica Holmes – 3 year old Rex and 2-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.
In Irwin’s latest interview, he opened up about how he has recently spent some time in a hospice following treatment that left his liver hugely damaged, as well as chronic pain in his back. As a result of his children being yet to learn of his illness, Irwin revealed that he occasionally ‘removes himself’ from the family home in order to find some respite.
“I remove myself on a number of occasions because I’m not good to be around when I’m in pain,” he told HELLO! Magazine.
“I’m like a bear with a sore head and I don’t want them to be around that.”
He also added, in relation to his death: “It can happen at any time. I’m here to stop it for as long as possible.”
