Johnny Ruffo was many things to many people: Singer, Home and Away actor, dancer and most notably a beacon of bravery and positivity as he fought brain cancer.

It was the cruel disease that led to his death on Friday November 10, at 35, surrounded by family and his partner Tahnee Sims.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Johnny Ruffo performs on Sunrise, 2012.

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In an emotional edition of 7NEWS Spotlight, Ruffo’s life and legacy is being remembered including through footage taken when the program followed him around for six months in 2021.

At the time, Ruffo and his partner Tahnee Sims were were assessing treatment options as surgery was no longer possible after his cancer returned for the second time in 2020.

On the program, close friends — including his former Home and Away co-star Lynne McGranger and singer Guy Sebastian — reflected on Ruffo’s life and six-year health battle.

“I think had his illness not got in the way, he might’ve gone on to do even bigger and better things,” McGranger told 7NEWS Spotlight journalist Denham Hitchcock.

She recalled the “shocking” moment she learned of Ruffo’s diagnosis.

“I knew that he’d been suffering bad headaches,” McGranger said.

“I knew that because he’d only just recently been around to our place for a barbecue and Tahnee had to take him home because he’d always suffered from migraines and he was unwell and he didn’t really want to have a wine or anything, which was just not like Johnny. So she took him home.

“I think it was shortly after that that we found out, of course, that what they believed was migraines turned out to be a rather large brain tumour.”

Ruffo’s partner Sims recalled of his early symptoms: “He’d had the headaches for probably like a week, on and off.

“Then ... I think it was maybe a Sunday, and I was making boiled eggs in the kitchen and he was lying on the lounge ... he was trying to respond to me, but he was mixing up his words.

“I remember he was saying ‘put boil in the oiling water’, and then I went over to him and he was finding it hard to string a sentence together, which was very odd.

“At this time, he still had these excruciating headaches, so I was like, ‘I think we should head in, get checked out’.

“We were in the emergency waiting bays for probably eight hours, they were giving him drips and pain meds just trying to get the headaches under control.

“And then he was lying down and he sat straight up and just vomited all this brown stuff over himself.”

Ruffo, who was sitting beside Sims during the interview, added: “It was like black, almost.”

Sims said she was sent home for the night and returned the following day to learn her partner’s condition had worsened and he was in a coma.

“I had a 7cm tumour in my right frontal lobe, which is more or less the size of my fist, and they had to operate immediately,” Ruffo said.

After an anxious 11-hour wait, surgeons told Sims 95 per cent of the tumour had been removed, with the remaining portion tangled in nerves.

Ruffo emerged from the surgery with 27 staples in his head, and the makings of a massive scar.

Ruffo receives his diagnosis

It would be days before the actor found out the tumour removed from his brain was cancerous.

“They told me I have brain cancer and it was like, ‘Wow, my whole world just got flipped upside down’,” he said.

“And then they said ‘You have to have chemotherapy, you have to have radiotherapy, you’re going to lose your hair’... everything just came crashing down all at once.

“I didn’t cry, I was just blank.

“I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what to say.

“I was just like, all right, I guess we gotta do this now.”

Fellow singer Sebastian recalled that he “couldn’t believe it” when he learned Ruffo had brain cancer.

“Such a young age, at the top of his game, being thrown a challenge like that, it really was hard to stomach, to be honest,” Sebastian said.

“I think when something like that happens to someone like Johnny Ruffo, it really reminds us that it can happen to anyone.”

After aggressive chemotherapy treatment, Ruffo went into remission in 2019.

“Greatest day of my life ... amazing ... I just felt like I can finally get back to life and living again,” he told Spotlight.

However, in November 2020, Ruffo revealed devastating news.

His cancer had returned.

Round two

“From memory, I had 11 seizures in four days, so I don’t remember a lot from those four days,” Ruffo told Hitchcock.

“He was, I would say, semi-conscious for probably like nine days,” Sims recalled.

“There’s dark thoughts where I’m like, ‘Is this it? Is this where I say goodbye, in the bloody hospital, after everything?’

“So, those, those are, there’s definitely dark times — I’m not gonna lie.”

Ruffo’s cancer was extremely rare, accounting for less than 1 per cent of all brain tumours.

It’s even more rare in someone so young.

“When they told me the cancer was back, I was devastated,” he said.

“I‘d already been through it, and for me it was just like ‘Oh f***, I’ve gotta go through this s*** again’.”

This time, there was no surgery, just chemotherapy and anti-seizure medication.

In August 2022, he announced the saddest of news — his cancer was terminal.

He said his major focus was to keep making music for as long as he could, and to spend as much time with loved ones as possible.

That same month, Ruffo also released his autobiography, No Finish Line.

‘With a heavy heart’

Ruffo’s death was announced on the star’s Instagram page on November 10.

“It is with a heavy heart that today we had to farewell our beloved Johnny,” it read.

“Surrounded by his partner Tahnee and family, Johnny went peacefully with the support of some incredible nurses and doctors.

“He was a very talented, charming and sometimes cheeky boy.

“Johnny was very determined and had a strong will.

“He battled all the way to the end and fought as hard as he could.

“Such a beautiful soul with so much more to give.

“We all love you Johnny and will remember you for all the joy you brought to our lives.

“Rest easy.”

His family says a memorial service to celebrate his life will be held in Perth on November 25.

Details of the service are yet to be announced.

Watch 7NEWS Spotlight’s Johnny Ruffo tribute special on Channel 7 and 7plus.