Jonnie Irwin celebrates wife Jessica Holmes' birthday with a special lunch amid terminal cancer diagnosis
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jonnie Irwin, the former presenter of 'A Place in the Sun', shared a heartwarming photo of himself and his wife Jessica Holmes on her birthday.
The couple enjoyed a special lunch together despite Jonnie’s battle with terminal lung cancer and a recent chest infection, reports Mirror.
How did Jonnie Irwin celebrate wife Jessica Holmes' birthday?
In an Instagram post on Friday, October 26, Jonnie captioned the selfie, “Birthday lunch with my Favourite.”
The picture shows Jessica, 41, smiling happily as she cuddled up to her husband of seven years outside a restaurant.
View this post on Instagram
When did Jonnie Irwin reveal his terminal diagnosis and how does he cope with it?
Jonnie revealed his terminal diagnosis in November 2022, two years after he was first diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his brain.
He told Hello! magazine that his priority was to spend as much time as possible with Jessica and their three young sons Rex, five, and three-year-old twins Cormac and Rafa.
View this post on Instagram
He also said that he had not told his children about his condition as he wanted to protect them from the harsh reality.
He said he was being asked regularly if he was going to reveal it to his children.
“It would be horrible news that they’d have to get their heads around," he said at the time.
View this post on Instagram
Jonnie has been trying various treatments to ease his symptoms and improve his quality of life.
Earlier this week, he shared that he had taken antibiotics, spent two hours in a hyperbaric chamber and visited a salt room for deep breathing to treat his chest infection.
Jonnie Irwin's blurry vision rang alarm bells
The former rugby player first noticed something was wrong with him in August 2020 when he was filming 'A Place in the Sun' in Italy.
His vision went blurry while he was driving a week after the production had ended, prompting him to seek medical attention.
The test results showed that he had lung cancer that had spread to his brain and that he had about six months to live.
“I had to go home and tell my wife, who was looking after our babies, that she was on her own pretty much,” he recalled, adding “That was devastating. All I could do was apologise to her. I felt so responsible.”
Jonnie Irwin's fans pray for him and ask him to keep hope
There were comments on his Instagram post filled with hope as one wrote, "You looking good Jonnie, whatever you're doing keep it up. Happy birthday to your lovely wife."
One more wrote, "Looking fantastic!! Keep doing whatever you are doing. Love from Ireland." Another user wrote, "Happy birthday, and many more xxx."
View this post on Instagram
"Have great birthday celebrations!," wrote another as fans were also happy for them to have tried Lobsteeravioli and complemented their food choice by saying, "Sounds yumm."
One more wrote, "Perfect food choice too," with another stated, "Hope you went the extra mile & had pudding! Enjoy."
