JOHN BURGESS My wife's the REASON I'M ALIVE

AS HE NEARS 80, BURGO ALREADY HAS THE GREATEST GIFT... LOVE

- Craig Bennett

John Burgess is thrilled and looking forward to entering his eighth decade, after a life-or-death health battle last year left him certain his "number was up".

"Looking back, I realise it was way worse than first thought. Frankly, I'm lucky to be alive," the legend of Aussie game shows tells New Idea ahead of the milestone occasion on June 4.

"I survived thanks to the quick thinking of my wife, Jan." The drama unfolded in the early hours of February 2022. John woke at around 5am feeling crook.

"I went to the loo and back to bed.

A short while later I felt really sick, so I returned to the bathroom, but this time I couldn't stand up. Suddenly, I had no strength," he recalls.

"Jan called our son Dean, who lifted me off the toilet. I took a couple of Panadol and threw up. Horrified, Jan called an ambulance."