\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve lost someone special today. MAFS for me won\u2019t be the same. She\u2019s a huge loss and sometimes it\u2019s hard to breathe just thinking about her,\u201d he confessed. <\/p>\n
When Mel, a loving wife and mum to 11-year-old daughter, Maddie, shared the news <\/a>that she was coming to terms with a terminal diagnosis on March 13th, John was one of the first to chime in with his support. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of me is standing with you. Whenever you need me \u2013 please know I\u2019m there,\u201d he commented on her post. <\/p>\n At the time, he didn\u2019t realise how serious her condition had become and little time they actually had left. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that I\u2019m struggling. It\u2019s devastating to have someone that you\u2019ve worked with for 10 years, who you\u2019ve sat beside on a couch and got to know so well, to die in this way \u2013 so shockingly and so quickly,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI was very privileged to have 10 years with her. You get to know someone so well, so this is a very, very sad day.\u201d <\/p>\n John added that working with Mel on the Nine reality TV show since the very beginning has been once of the biggest privileges in his life and career. Tributes that followed the news of her death<\/a>, certainly echoed that. <\/p>\n \u201cWith Mel, I think about the way in which she was on set, even to the end, and what I loved about her was that she just fought all the time but she kept everything inside. She never complained,\u201d he remembered. <\/p>\n \u201cShe was just such an incredibly strong inspiration. She was a real leader and I always admired that about her because we never really knew what she was going through until close to the end.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n