FAIRYTALE of New York legend Shane MacGowan's wife has issued a new health update - and revealed her emotional Christmas wish.
Victoria Mary Clarke told how she's hoping to get the Pogues legend home from hospital - where he's been battling a dangerous brain condition - for the festive season.
Posting a new snap of the 65-year-old rocker, Victoria Mary said the star is "feeling much better today".
MacGowan has been treated for months for viral encephalitis – a serious condition which leads to brain swelling - and hospitalised several times since his diagnosis.
In a social media post earlier this week, Victoria Mary sent "love and prayers to everyone who is struggling right now".
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But issuing a fresh update, she shared a picture of Shane grinning as he used a breathing apparatus in his hospital bed.
She said: "Shane is feeling much better today! I am so grateful to everyone who is willing him to get home for the Christmas!"
Victioria previously revealed her gratitude for Shane's celeb pals visiting him in hospital during his health battle.
She said: "I just wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone who has been messaging me and @ShaneMacGowan and thank you @spiderstacy and Terry Woods for coming to visit him.
"Love and prayers for everyone who is struggling right now. Hang in there!"
And Victoria - who tied the knot with Shane in Copenhagen back in 2018 after decades together - opened up about "facing terrifying fears of loss".
In a heartfelt message to fans in recent days, she said: "Love is the most beautiful and powerful thing that we can experience as humans but love can also feel painful especially if you are afraid of losing a person or anything else that you love.
"The really really big challenge that we all face is to go beyond what our minds think are the limits of love and what love really is.
"A lot of the time that thing we call love can more accurately be described as attachment or desire or need or longing or closeness or connection.
"And all of these are totally valuable and human and we need to acknowledge and appreciate and accept every part of our experience."
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Victoria, 57, said that sometimes when you "love very deeply" you will "find yourself facing terrifying fears of loss" that can feel "so big and devastating you don't know how to survive them".
WIFE'S FEARS
She continued: "You can't imagine life without this person that you love.
"It's in these moments when you are staring into the abyss that you have an opportunity to expand your consciousness beyond the limitations of your mind.
"You have an opportunity to discover more of who you really are and more of who your soul really is and more of your connection with this person who you love."
Pals and fans have flooded Victoria's social media with well wishes for Shane.
One said: "Shane please be strong mate..... As I said before you are a legend...... A true poetic orator songwriter and singer..... Please get better mate......... Please."
Another wrote: "God’s speed to get you back home settled and cosy for a beautiful Christmas. That is my Christmas wish for this year. Sending you all my love and strength as always."
Tipperary rocker Shane has been confined to a wheelchair since shattering his pelvis in a horror fall several years ago.
MacGowan fell and broke his pelvis in 2016 and later fell and broke his knee and then ended up tearing ligaments in his left knee, injuries from which he has never fully recovered.
The singer rose to fame as a founding member of The Pogues, going on to release Fairytale of New York, which became one of the biggest Christmas songs of all time.
And despite the trad legend's health battles in recent years, his writer wife Victoria said his "beautiful soul" has always stayed positive.
She wrote: "I just wanted to say thank you to @shanemacgowanofficial for always somehow shining his beautiful soul through all of his struggles with his health and his mobility and creativity and everything he has been going through.
"It's the beauty in the wonderful people in our lives that lets us know how beautiful the world really is, even if we don’t always feel like it is!"
