Eamonn Holmes said a temporary goodbye to ‘This Morning’ on Friday (29 January), as he hosted his last show before having a double hip replacement.
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The presenter, who fronts the ITV daytime show with wife Ruth Langsford each Friday, is set to take 10 weeks off, as he recuperates from the invasive procedure, which will see him have both hips replaced at the same time.
Eamonn Holmes is to undergo a double hip operation
“It’s more au revoir than goodbye for a little while as I’m going to be rebuilt," he told viewers. "They are taking out both of my hips and giving me new ones. I’ve put it off for too long, and for me, I think it’ll be a new lease of life.”
Eamonn was flooded with good luck during the show, wishing him well ahead of his big op.
He was also joined on the sofa by the surgeon who will be performing the surgery, as well as one of the nurses from the hospital, who talked through the procedure and how it will change Eamonn’s life afterwards.
“Looking at your x-rays, you have bone on bone rubbing and at that point people have a lot of pain and begin to lose function. And if you look at Eamonn, you’ll see that he stoops forward and the reason he does that is because he can no longer actually extend his hip and he can’t get his [hip] straight,” surgeon Sarah Muirhead-Allwood explained.
She added, “We will take away the whole of the [rounded] femur head, replacing with a hip joint and remould the socket and into that we put a cup in with cement or without cement. And if we do both together the total recovery time is maybe one day more in hospital, and for people that have got to have both done, it’s much preferable for patients.”
Eamonn's surgeon joined him on the show
Revealing his reasons for wanting both done at the same time, Eamonn confessed, “When I look at work schedules and work that I’ve had to turn down - documentary series outside - it’s OK when you’re sitting on the 'This Morning' sofa, but when you’re outside filming or whatever, I just thought I want to get off the conveyer belt or whatever for as short a space as possible and then back on, all done in one go. But a lot of this will depend on me doing my exercises.”
Ruth said that her mind had been put at ease knowing more details about his operation, having been very concerned about it.
"I had a little cry the other night because I was so worried about it," she said.
“I feel much better myself actually having talked to all of you, so thank you.”
Eamonn has worn away the cartilage in his hip joints
Eamonn has been in a lot of pain thanks to a degenerative hereditary condition, which he first spoke of 20 years ago, and said he was “looking forward” to being a “new man” after his recovery.
"I can't imagine going shopping - putting on socks or shoes without being in pain," he added.
The 55-year-old previously said the reason he hasn’t had the op until now is because he was worried about being seen as “old” by TV bosses, as the industry is often considered ageist.
It has been revealed that showbiz correspondent Rylan Clark and 'Good Morning Britain' host Ben Shephard will act as replacements for Eamonn while he is off.
‘This Morning’ airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.