More FM host Simon Barnett has given an emotional update on his wife Jodi’s battle with brain cancer. Speaking over the phone to co-host Gary McCormick, Barnett admitted it was “quite hard to talk about.”
Jodi was admitted to hospital in Christchurch on April 29th after suffering a “substantial seizure.” After being rushed to hospital, scans revealed she had two tumours. She underwent surgery to remove the lesion and the couple were told “it couldn’t have gone better.”
“We were very hopeful that it was going to be benign,” Simon said. “But it turned out not to be…it was…malignant.”
Jodi starts radiation therapy in two weeks time which she will have every day for six weeks. She will then undergo chemotherapy for six months.
“Obviously very scary times and we didn’t want to know about the prognosis or anything like that,” Simon explained. “My daughter’s a med student so she looked online…and she said there’s some wonderful stories out there of success and we’re holding onto every single one of them.”
Simon and Jodi have been married for 25 years and he describes her as his “soulmate.”
“Everybody says it…nothing seems to matter when you’re confronted with life and death…I can tell you now from first hand experience…not any single material possession that you care to name matters one single jot when you face losing someone.”
Simon’s voice broke at this point and he struggled to talk through tears. The show’s producer Samantha Baxter broke down too and was comforted in the studio.
“Everybody here feels that same pain with you,” his co-host and friend McCormick assured him.
It wasn’t all sad. Simon shared some funny moments about how he’d struggled with the housework while Jodi had been sick. He also joked that she was keen to get him out of the house.
“We’ve got a bit ahead of us but we’re very hopeful and we want people to remain hopeful,” he said. “The doctors have said we’ve got a real hope.”
“I really want to get back to work,” he went on to say. “It’s quite hard, I woke this morning and I though ‘gee, how am actually going to ever feel funny again’, but I want to. Just hearing your voices and having a laugh will be a great tonic.”
Simon and his co-host Gary McCormick.
Simon and Jodi have been married for 25 years and have four daughters together.
In an interview with Woman’s Day in 2015 following his Dancing With The Stars win, Simon said “she is utterly and completely my soulmate.”
“We don’t feel complete unless we are together.”
Simon plans to be back on air on June 5th.
