Jonnie Irwin's wife recounts late TV presenter's painful last moments

Jessica Holmes, wife of beloved property show presenter Jonnie Irwin, has opened up about the devastating loss of her husband.

Jonnie who was best known for shows like Escape To The Country and A Place In The Sun sadly passed away at the age of 50 in February after a battle with lung cancer that spread to his brain which he was first diagnosed with back in 2020.

Jessica shared with the Daily Mail her heartbreaking experience, stating: "You hear people say: 'He passed away peacefully. It was lovely', but it wasn't for Jonnie. It was a f****** awful process."

"I wish I hadn't seen it but I had to be with him." She recalled asking the nurses how she could help, feeling helpless as there seemed nothing she could do.

She expressed her broken heart at seeing a loved one in such a state: "It is just heart-breaking to see someone you love so much in that state, but he was surrounded by love and in our home, as he wanted, not in a hospice".

She opened up about the struggle of trying to manage not only her own emotions but also their three young sons, revealing that despite his awful condition, Jonnie fought until the very end.

She said: "But it is not peaceful. People are upset and I had our three little boys to manage. Even at the end, Jonnie didn't want to go. He was fighting to the last."

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Jessica grimly shared her painful memories: "I hated every second lying next to my dying husband. I cuddled him but he was in a lot of pain. I was constantly moving him, administering drugs."

Remembering their final conversations she said: "I kept saying: 'Can I do anything? ' and he said: 'No, I'm fine.' How could he be fine? "

The couple, who raised three sons together Rex, and twins Rafa and Cormac were undeniably close with Jonnie's cancer battle taking a deep emotional toll on JAESSICA.

She confessed: "I still struggle with what he went through."

She also recalled Jonnie's strength and selflessness throughout his illness as she said he "never complained" and would instead "just get upset and say: 'I'm just so sorry I'm leaving you all'"

She added: "He was not just my best friend, he was my lover, protector, the person I wanted to share my life with and it was such a mad, adventurous, fun life with him.

"I feel like I'm still living in Jonnie's world. His friends are my friends now. He renovated this house."

Irwin first noticed something was wrong while filming A Place In The Sun in Italy in August 2020, when his vision became blurry while driving. He later revealed his health struggles in 2022.

The BBC's Escape To The Country, where he had been a beloved host of the British daytime property-buying programme since 2010, honoured the late TV presenter with a special episode.

Irwin also featured in Channel 4's Renovation Game, which ran for three seasons from 2011, where builders and designers risked their fees if they failed to increase the property value of a house during a makeover.

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