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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Zara Woodcock

A Place In The Sun's Jonnie Irwin hasn't told his children it could be his last Christmas

A Place In The Sun's Jonnie Irwin revealed he hasn't told his children it could be his last Christmas.

Jonnie, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020, recently shared the tragic news that his cancer is terminal.

He tied the knot with Jessica Holmes in 2016 and the couple share children Rex, four, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.

The presenter made up their minds and said they won't be telling their children about his terminal illness.

"Why break their hearts when they're having such fun?" the couple explained.

"If you have 20 days left, why spend them in mourning and confusion?

"Why not just have 15 days of pure, blissful ignorance and five days of knowing the facts?"

Jonnie hasn't told his children about his diagnosis (instagram.com/jonnieirwintv)

Jonnie will sooner or later tell the eldest child about his illness but the couple are 'still thinking about it'.

He told MailOnline : "I'm not looking forward to the chat with Rex. We're still thinking about it. I've learnt that it's best to do nothing if you're unsure."

Jonnie was filming in Italy when he first noticed something might be wrong with his health.

In August 2020, he suddenly struggled with blurry vision whilst he was driving – with subsequent tests confirming he had developed lung cancer, which had spread to his brain.

He publicly shared his diagnosis last month, after being told by doctors how his stage four lung cancer had spread to his brain and left him with just months left to live.

Recently he has been encouraging others to take out life insurance, which will provide financial help to his wife Jessica and their three children.

He is thinking about telling his oldest son (jonnieirwintv/Instagram)
He just wants to enjoy Christmas with his family (instagram.com/jonnieirwintv)

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During an appearance on Morning Live on Thursday, Jonnie spoke about how the diagnosis made him look deeper into his finances to help support his family.

He told hosts Gethin Jones and Kimberley Walsh: "It's funny when you get diagnosed with something so serious, all control gets taken away from you and so I wanted to take control back.

"I knew I had to look after my family, it's an amazing thing, once you have a family you have this massive responsibility.

"Being freelance, I had a couple of properties, I wanted to try and be in a position to get my family into a mortgage-free situation so I sold my buy-to-lets.

"To some extent, I'd done all that I could. But I wish I'd done more, certainly in terms of life insurance."

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