The Living Room‘s Barry du Bois has publicly thanked his children for “giving him strength” to carry on following his second battle with cancer.
Du Bois posted the emotional message on Instagram alongside a throwback snap of him with his two young children, five-year-old twins Arabella and Bennett.
The sweet candid photo shows, Barry, 57, sitting on the steps of an unfinished swimming pool, watching his “little apprentices” Bennett and Arabella – who is cheekily grinning at the camera.
He wrote: “Flashback Friday to a healthier time building our pool with my little apprentice’s Looking back sometimes is all it takes to give us strength to power forward. #love #strength #positivevibes#flashbackfriday”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjLUY3glL_W/?hl=en&taken-by=baz_dubois
Barry was first diagnosed with plasmacytoma, cancer of the immune system, in 2010 and the TV star underwent successful treatment.
However, following a six month period in remission, the Network Ten star revealed that his cancer had sadly returned during an emotional episode of The Living Room in October last year. Barry told viewers that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is cancer of the plasma cells, and had several tumours.
The TV star underwent drastic treatment, including chemotherapy which caused him to lose his hair, but has assured fans that he is “on the right track”.
He returned to our screens in March and gave his co-stars and viewers an update on his health, before thanking everyone for their “love and prayers” during the difficult period of his life which he said helped him “battle through”.
Barry said: “I feel like the most loved guy on the planet, I’m overwhelmed by support.
“I particularly want to say thank you to the people who have shared their personal journeys with cancer or depression with me, I really want to say to them, stay strong, be well, and I’m sending you life. I won’t lie, the treatment I went through was hard work, but I’m back home and with you guys, I reckon I’m on the right track.”
This touching tribute isn’t the first post Barry has dedicated to his children, as back in February he revealed that his health issues had forced him to miss a major milestone in the twins’ lives.
The interior designer told his followers that he had missed out on dropping the kids off for their first day at school because he was in hospital.
He wrote: “An incredibly proud day with my beautiful babies starting school, bitterly disappointed I can not be with them this morning but I guess everyday I am in this hospital is a day closer to it all being over.”
Barry also released a book Life Force: An Unforgettable Story of Living with Cancer earlier this month, which he co-wrote with friend Miguel Maestre.