Ali Condon
Jonnie Irwin has thanked fans for their supportive messages after announcing that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The A Place In The Sun presenter revealed to fans last week that he had been given just months to live after doctors discovered that he had lung cancer, which had spread to his brain.
After making the heartbreaking revelation, Jonnie, 48, was swarmed with loving messages from fans and friends wishing him nothing but the best.
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Updating his Instagram followers on Tuesday (15 November), Jonnie wrote: "Overwhelmed by your kind messages, not had the chance to read them all yet but I assure you I will.
"Yesterday I needed some headspace so I escaped to the country with my brother in law and his dog. It was a tonic."
He first shared his heartbreaking news with fans in a tell-all interview with Hello! magazine, after keeping his diagnosis a secret for the last two years.
Jonnie revealed that he had first been diagnosed in August 2020 after experiencing some concerning symptoms while filming for A Place In The Sun in Italy.
The TV star recalled that his first warning sign came when his vision went blurry while driving around Italy.
"Within a week of flying back from filming, I was being given six months to live," he shared. "I had to go home and tell my wife, who was looking after our babies, that she was on her own pretty much. That was devastating. All I could do was apologise to her. I felt so responsible."
Thanks to chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, Jonnie has been able to prolong the course of his condition and keep working, but he said he knows that 'one day, this is going to catch up with me'.
Now, his top priority is to spend as much time as he can with his wife Jessica and their children Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.
It was recently revealed that Jonnie's co-star Scarlette Douglas, who is currently competing in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! will not be told about his diagnosis until she leaves the jungle.
Douglas' PR told Tyla this week: "Yes it’s true that Scarlette knows Jonnie is unwell, but is not aware that his situation is as bad as has been reported in the last 24 hours or so.
"I know that she holds him in high regard as he was a help to her when she first started working on the show and she’s told me that he was always friendly and welcoming whenever they met since.
"There will definitely be a sense of shock and sadness when she hears the news upon leaving the jungle."