Johnnie Irwin.Photo:BBC
BBC
Jonnie Irwin is looking ahead to the future.
“I am living with cancer rather than dying from cancer,”he saidon the May 24 podcast. “As soon as you say you’ve got cancer, people just write you off…[But] the day I came out and told the world that I had cancer, terminal cancer, is the day I started living again.”
Irwin, now 49,was first diagnosedin August 2020 after he was in Italy filming for Channel 4’s house-hunting reality showA Place in the Sun, and experienced blurred vision while driving. A series of tests soon confirmed the cancer.
“Within a week of flying back from filming, I was being given six months to live,“he recalled, noting the impact it would have on his wife Jessica and their three children, Rex, now 3, and twins Rafa and Cormac, who were only 2 months old at the time.
Johnnie Irwin and wife Jessica.Jonnie Irwin/Instagram
Jonnie Irwin/Instagram
“How do you tell a woman who only two months before had had twins?” he saidon the podcast.“All I can remember is hugging her and just saying sorry.”
After revealing his diagnosis, Irwinsaid he was let gofromA Place in the Sun.
“As soon as people find out you’ve got cancer,they write you off,“he explained.“Yes, I have stage four, and it’s terminal — but not yet, so let me live my life while I can.”
He admitted on the podcast that the potential loss of income was why he initially hid his diagnosis.
“The only reason I kept it a secret is because I’ve got to feed my babies,”he said in the podcast.
“It’s expensive business, dying.”
But Irwin doesn’t regret revealing his diagnosis; Rather, he credits it with his new outlook on life.
“I started being Jonnie Irwin again and I actually feel alive,” Irwinsaid.
A big part of his motivation these days? Leaving behind a legacy of help that his family — especially his sons — can cherish.
Johnnie Irwin with his children.Jonnie Irwin/Instagram
Irwin’s been taking steps to leave behind a personal legacy as well: Although his birthday isn’t until November, he threwan early 50th birthday partyin March, and said he’s relying on modern technology to record messages for his family to watch after he’s died.
As he told theBBC, “It’s amazing to think I too could speak to my wife and children after I pass away.”
source: people.com
