Heartbreak as Jonnie Irwin dies at 50: What is the condition that gave him only six months to live?

Jonnie Irwin is a TV presenter and property expert. He is best known for Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun from 2004 to 2021. He also appeared on BBC’s Escape to the Country between 2010 and 2023.

For the past few years, Jonnie Irwin had sadly been dealing with extreme health issues. Just last week, Irwin, who turned 50 in November 2023, shared a picture on social media of himself in a hospital gown ahead of an MRI scan. The post turned out turned out to be Irwin’s last.

In the caption of said photo, Irwin explained that he hadn’t slept for 6 days and that he was having a full body MRI scan that would last at least an hour. As people pay their respects to Jonnie, let’s have a look at his health journey.

Jonnie Irwin has died at the age of 50

It was announced on Instagram on Friday, January 2, 2024, that A Place in the Sun star Jonnie Irwin had died at the age of 50. The statement shared by his family talked about Jonnie’s brave battle against cancer and his ‘unwavering strength and courage’.

The family has naturally asked for privacy during this difficult time but asked that people ‘celebrate a life well-lived’:

As we remember the beautiful moments shared with Jonnie, let us celebrate a life well-lived and a legacy that will forever be etched in our hearts. Jonnie may be gone from our sight, but his love, laughter, and memories will live on.

Rest in peace, dear Jonnie. You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten.

Jonnie Irwin was married to Jessica Holmes, they tied the knot in 2016 and welcomed three children into this world, a son named Rex and twins, Rafa and Cormac.

Jonnie Irwin’s journey with cancer

As reported by The Sun, Jonnie Irwin was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2020 and given just 6 months to live. However, the property expert defied all odds and went on to live a lot longer than doctors expected.

Even though Irwin was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, he didn’t announce his condition until 2022, when he revealed the cancer had spread to his brain, as per BBC. Jonnie had told Hello Magazine that it felt like he was keeping a ‘dirty secret’ and wanted to lift that weight off his back.

It's got to the point now where it feels like I'm carrying a dirty secret, it's become a monkey on my back.

In his last interview, Jonnie Irwin revealed that he was looking into ‘alternative options’ for treatment to help him feel ‘empowered’, as per The Sun. Irwin’s alternative treatment included ‘doing oxygen, vitamin C’.

He said, as per The Sun:

Check this out - I’m in there at least an hour a day and I’ve got to go in there later [a hyperbaric oxygen chamber].

He added:

I feel great after it. I feel great after hyperbaric - I feel great after vitamin C.

These things, if I was fit and well, I’d be trying to use them anyway because I’m so much more open minded probably because I’ve got a gun to my head. And it’s a rich kaleidoscope of help that I’m pursuing and I will continue to do that.

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Sources used:

The Sun: ‘FIGHT TIL THE END Courageous Jonnie Irwin posed in hospital gown for MRI scan in last picture just days before his heartbreaking death’

BBC: ‘Jonnie Irwin: A Place In The Sun presenter dies aged 50’

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