Jonnie Irwin receives palliative care in a hospice and says he has 'up and down days'
24.07.2023 - 11:53
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Jonnie Irwin is currently receiving palliative care at a hospice and has said his experience there is "spacious, energised and comfortable".
The former A Place In The Sun presenter last year opened up about being diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2020 and said he wasn't sure how long he has left to live, after the tumour spread to his brain.
Speaking on Morning Live on Monday, the 49-year-old admitted to having "up days and down days" amid living with the incurable disease as he opened up about his experience in a hospice, writes The Mirror. Jonnie told hosts Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones via a video link:"I've been using palliative care for three years.
Palliative care is the medical caregiving approach aimed at optimising quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses."
The dad-of-three Jonnie went on to clear up some misconceptions about palliative care, saying: "It's the care you're given when doctors think you won't recover - I've been in palliative care since day one, when I got my diagnosis. It can take many guises - from hospital visits and chemotherapy all the way to the hospice."
He added: "It's a delight actually! I wouldn't say it's like [staying in] a hotel but it is like a very nice, private hospital. My perceptive [of hospices] was very much a room full of frail people towards the end of their days, but this is nothing of sort - it's spacious, energised, comfortable... there is even jacuzzi!"
Jonnie praised the staff at the private hospice he is staying in and said they have been "amazing" before Dr Ranj Singh went on to speak further on palliative care - explaining how the redirection of care can "go on for years or just days - it depends on