TV presenter Jonnie Irwin says he fears his young children “not going to remember me” if he dies this year, having previously been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The 49-year-old, who presents Channel 4’s A Place In The Sun and the BBC’s Escape To The Country, said it was hard to see good things happening for his family, knowing he “not going to be around much longer”, reports RTE.
Earlier this month, Irwin said he doesn’t know “how much time I have left” after the lung cancer spreads to his brain.
He revealed that the first warning signs of his illness came while he was filming A Place In The Sun in August 2020 in Italy when his vision blurred while he was driving.
The announcer shares his three-year-old son Rex and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac with his wife Jessica.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: Every time something really nice happens with them, I have this thing knocking at my door, saying, ‘Don’t get too happy because you’re not going to be around much longer’. Then I think they’re not going to remember me, they’re really not. Someone else is probably going to bring them up. I’ve done the hard yards with them and someone else will get the easy bit,” reports RTE.
Irwin had already told Hello! magazine that he hoped sharing his diagnosis would inspire others to “make the most of every day” and encouraged people to purchase life insurance.
He said that he chose to keep his illness private until recently.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.