Home and Away star Johnny Ruffo celebrates 35th birthday amid cancer battle

Home and Away actor Johnny Ruffo celebrated his 35th birthday.

The star, who is currently battling a terminal cancer diagnosis, shared an image from her celebrations on Instagram on Wednesday.

In the photo, Johnny is seen beaming from ear to ear as he poses in front of a birthday dessert to celebrate the special occasion.

’35 and sure feeling it!!! captioned the post.

‘Grateful for another lap around the sun. Thank you all for the birthday wishes.’

It comes just days after Johnny started another round of chemotherapy.

The star posted a photo of himself undergoing treatment at the hospital with his girlfriend Tahnee Sims by his side.

The actor put on a very brave face, smiling and giving a thumbs up as he sat on a chair.

“Back in my favorite chair,” she sarcastically wrote along with the hashtags #ihatethischair and #f**kcancer.

Johnny’s close friends and Home and Away co-stars praised the singer for his strength.

“Sending you lots of love, Johnny,” Emily Symons commented.

“Big love to you mate, big love,” added Georgie Parker.

‘Thinking of you Johnny, I’ve been following your battle. Keep fighting,” wrote one fan.

‘You are an inspiration, Johnny! Australia loves you,” added another.

Meanwhile, model Samantha Harris wrote: “We’ve only met you a handful of times, but you really are one of those people who can always light up a room.”

Johnny’s long-time girlfriend Tahnee also shared a photo of Johnny reclining in his hospital chair.

In December, the actor and singer marked another year of undergoing chemotherapy and revealed that he was looking forward to getting a break and spending time with his family over Christmas.

“Another year of chemo done. It wasn’t easy, but I did it,” she wrote at the time.

‘I can’t wait to get a few weeks off over Christmas and spend some well earned time with my family. #f**kcancer.’

In August 2022, Johnny confirmed that his brain cancer diagnosis was terminal, saying he feared how his girlfriend Tahnee would fare once he was gone.

“You can only imagine how difficult this has been for her,” he said on The Project.

“The thing that goes on in my head a lot is, I hate to say this, how hard it can be for her if something happens to me.

So, it’s something I don’t want to think about. It just kind of excites me because I know at some point something will happen, whether it’s a month from now or 10 years from now or 20 years from now.

Johnny told then-host Carrie Bickmore that he was already past his life expectancy.

‘At some point it will catch me, but I keep fighting. Still kicking. Looking at my diagnosis and my tumor, the average life expectancy was three years,” she said.

Johnny was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017 after going to the hospital with painful migraines.

In August of that year, he was rushed into surgery and had a 7cm brain tumor surgically removed from his frontal lobe, before undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The former X Factor star praised his partner Tahnee, referring to her as his ‘guardian angel’.

“She’s here with me every step of the way,” he said. I am so grateful to have her by my side, I don’t know what I would do without her.

Johnny went into remission months after his initial diagnosis in 2017, but revealed in November 2021 that the disease had returned.