Jonnie Irwin gives heartbreaking update on terminal cancer battle but defiantly tells fans: ‘I’m weak but still here’
TERMINALLY ill TV presenter Jonnie Irwin told how he attempted to play football recently with his four-year-old son — and the exertion “broke” him.
The cancer-stricken star, who has celebrated his 50th birthday early, says he always felt “sporty” but is now increasingly frustrated at how weak he has become.
Escape to the Country presenter Jonnie, father to three young children, says: “I tried to play football with Rex the other day and was in goal and I couldn’t get near the ball. It was so frustrating.
“I’m very sporty and suddenly it’s just like…it was as if it was the first time I’d attempted football. I felt like a granddad. And that broke me a bit.
“I always thought, ‘I’m an older dad but I’ll be leading from the front’ but I’m now at the back.”
His 50th birthday is not until November but he decided to celebrate it early with a huge bash with 170 friends and family.
Among the guests were co-star Jasmine Harman and ex-England cricketer Andrew Caddick.
Jonnie told The Sun: “It was a great night. I chose a playlist with some great tunes from the 90s and 2000s and people came from all over the country and abroad.
“I didn’t know the extent of the loyalty and generosity that my friends would exhibit. I’ve been dumbfounded and spellbound by their support, as well as that of our families, who have been amazing.
“I just wanted to do something to celebrate my birthday and had no idea how many people would actually turn up. It was incredible.”
In August 2020, Jonnie was given six months to live when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which had spread to his brain.
However he is determined to remain as long as he can with wife Jess, 40, Rex and their twins Rafa and Cormac, two.
As his boys clamber on him, tickling his stubble and stealing his cap, Jonnie says: “I’m weak now, fragile and my memory is terrible… but I’m still here.”
Jess recalls of the moment he came home and told of her of his terminal diagnosis: “He couldn’t stop apologising. He kept saying ‘sorry’ over and over and I just kept telling him it wasn’t his fault.”
Jonnie did not have his contract renewed for A Place in the Sun but has carried on working for its roadshows as well as Escape to the Country. He is also recording segments for BBC Morning Live and has been overseeing the renovation of the family home.
Each time he goes away, Jess slips “a little card in his wash bag just telling him how proud I am of him”. She knows that Jonnie is working to provide for his family, but says: “The reality is you cannot cross every T and dot all the I’s. It’s just impossible.
“I keep telling him that no matter how much he tries and stresses himself out, there’s still going to be the s*** that will come after.
“I keep saying, ‘Do what makes you happy, if you want to do something just do it.’ I just want to be able to bring any bit of fun and enjoyment back into his life which is really hard to do, especially with the reality of how much he’s struggling on a day-to-day basis.”
The couple’s boys have been a distraction for Jess, who says she finds the enormity of their situation hard to comprehend.
She says: “I don’t have time to think to be honest and I know that Jonnie is doing all that he can with the diet, the resting, the supplement, research, looking into treatment. Jonnie is partly still here because of sheer willpower.
“He’s stubborn and determined and he’s a scrapper.
“I think I’m still in denial about a lot of it if I’m honest.”
Jonnie is in awe of how his wife has dealt with his cancer, calling her “miraculous.”
But Jess says her anger that the disease has smashed apart their future keeps her pain at bay.
She explains: “I’m angry that this is happening and that’s maybe a defence mechanism I’ve put in place. If I ever think about the reality it absolutely breaks my heart, for the boys and for Jonnie.
“It’s just very unfair and I’m angry at how much it’s ruined the last couple of years, how much it’s taken away from us enjoying having a new family.”
The couple met in June 2015 at a party — and both knew they were now with the love of their lives.
By the following November, Jess had quit her job as an accounts assistant at a yacht company so they would travel the world.
They married in September 2016 and Rex was born two years later on Christmas Day. The twins followed in June 2020. Jonnie says: “We couldn’t believe how lucky we were, we had the dream life.”
But it was all cruelly snatched soon after when he was given his terminal diagnosis.
The couple kept the news from the public until November last year when Jonnie’s appearance began to change.
Jess says: “People didn’t know for such a long time which helped with not having the conversation for some time.
“Our friends knew, but not the severity of it and Jonnie looked well so it was never really a topic we discussed. The physical side of it came more recently. Now it’s all we talk about at home.”
The couple are still very much in love but Jonnie has given Jess his blessing to meet someone else — . an idea she will not entertain.
With a lump in her throat, she says: “I can think of the support I’ll need and that sort of thing but when it comes to me, my life is the boys. That’s enough for me. That’s where my thinking stops.
“It terrifies me that I’m suddenly going to be in a house on my own, the sole adult with three young boys. The prospect of being a single mum and a widow is awful to think about.
“I never chose to do this on my own. I picked Jonnie because I knew he would be an amazing dad and life partner.
“So more than anything I’m just gutted we’re not going to have that, for both our sakes.
“I think managing the sadness around the boys is going to be something that…I will probably need some sort of help with that.”
Alongside traditional cancer-blocking drugs, Jonnie has turned to alternative therapies in a bid to prolong his life, including infusions of vitamin C, a cocktail of daily vitamins, a strict diet and treatment in an oxygen chamber.
He believes NHS doctors should be trained in such therapies, saying it would save billions of pounds.
Jonnie says: “I really believe that I wouldn’t still be here if I hadn’t tried all these things.”
The couple have not told their boys what lies in front of them but Jonnie plans on making videos and voice clips for future birthdays.
However tackling that would mean he has to admit he will one day leave his children.
Jonnie says: “I’m a great procrastinator anyway, but there’s probably a part of me that puts it off because it’s painful.”