Jonnie Irwin said that he made a "mistake" when he found out he had cancer.
The Channel 4 A Place in the Sun presenter revealed last month that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and says he doesn't know how long he has left to live. The 49-year-old was diagnosed two years ago but kept his illness private until recently when he revealed his lung cancer had spread to his brain.
On Thursday, December 15, he joined presenter Gethin Jones on BBC's Morning Live to talk about how he is planning for the future of his sons Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac. He also shared a mistake that he made meaning he had to work more in the lead up to his final days.
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Talking about how he has planned for the future, he said: "My experience will hopefully help people with a life-threatening disease and people who are dealing with these people. When you get diagnosed with something so serious, all control is taken away.
"I wanted to take control back, so I did the usual weird diets and I also knew I had to look after my family. The moment you have family, your have this massive responsibility to look after them.
"Being freelance, I had a couple of properties. I wanted to try and get in a position to get my family into a mortgage-free situation and so I sold my buy-to-lets and then started looking around my savings. I think most people should do this every five years anyway, just to see how much you are worth. We always put it off but it is helpful.
"I went round looking in all my cookie jars. I consulted my life insurance policy holder who gave me the rules and regulations of what you can expect. To some extent, I did everything I could but I wish I had done more, certainly in terms of life insurance."
He added that most people think about life insurance, but said he didn't realise there is a gap and critical illness covers the gap. He said: "When you get a terminal diagnosis, it covers you for when you are gone.
"But a terminal diagnosis can go on for years and it will affect your work and you are waiting for this payout, who is going to pay your rent if you can't work? Critical illness covers you as soon as you are ill. I didn't take that and that put a lot of pressure on me, having to work on days when I didn't feel like it. That is the one mistake I made."
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