Jonnie Irwin begs don’t mollycoddle me, I’m a normal human being’

Jonnie Irwin, 49, announced his heartbreaking terminal cancer diagnosis last month after keeping it a secret for two years. Although he says going public with his illness has “got the monkey off [his] back”, he has noticed a change in the way people treat him.

Gethin asked Jonnie about how other people have started to perceive him, he replied: “I have good days and I have bad days, but the word ‘cancer’ is absolutely loaded and I think the most terrifying word in the English language.

“When someone hears cancer, they just think, ‘Oh, are you ok?’

“I don’t want – and lots of people are like me – we don’t want people making decisions on our behalf.

“‘Don’t invite Jonnie he won’t be well enough’, or, ‘He might be ill’. Please invite me and I will make that decision thank you very much!

“We don’t need mollycoddling; we are normal human beings. So, treat us as you would do two years ago.

“We are the same as everyone else and we want the same opportunities for fun and living as everybody else gets.”

Earlier in the episode, Jonnie opened up about the moment he realised something was wrong with his health.

Jonnie shares three young children with his wife Jessica Holmes.

They are Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac.