Jonnie Irwin says he considers reaching his 50th birthday a "triumph" after doctors told him he would be unlikely to reach the milestone age.
The former A Place in the Sun star was given a bleak life expectancy after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2020, which last year he revealed had spread to his brain.
He even made the decision to throw a 50th birthday earlier in the year as he didn't believe himself that he would make the real one.
Battling the odds, he flew to Spain with wife, Jess, and their sons Rex, four, and three-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac to celebrate his special day.
Making it all the more incredible, just days before he had been admitted to hospital with Jaundice leaving the family trip to Mijas on the Costa Del Sol hanging in the balance.
Reflecting on his sun-kissed getaway, Irwin said: "I never thought I'd be here for this, so I'm chuffed to bits. I feel really privileged to be able to celebrate my birthday looking at blue skies and with sand between my toes. I had an early birthday party at the start of the year because I didn't think I'd make it. It was like being at my own wake; lots of fun, lots of dancing. But here I am. I view it as a complete triumph.
"I have been spending all day with the kids; playing in the pool and in the hot tub, playing football. When I went to bed last night I said, 'I feel like a real dad today.' This morning I couldn't get out of bed, but I'm not sorry and I'll do it again," he added to Hello magazine.
