The wife of brave Asif Ali - who fought off four armed burglars at his home in Rochdale - has today revealed she is battling cancer.

Charlotte Ali opened up about her health problems during an interview on Good Morning Britain about the vicious attack, which saw her husband fight off the burglars with his bare fists in order to protect her.

The 30-year-old said she is currently having operations to remove cancer, and had gone to bed early on the night of the attack to rest.

Speaking to hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, Charlotte said: “At the moment I am undergoing some operations to remove cancer, so that’s the reason I wasn’t feeling too great that night.

“I said to Asif, I’ll go upstairs and watch a bit of Netflix and I’d fallen asleep.”

Asif and Charlotte were alerted to the break in after the couple’s dogs began barking ferociously at around 9.15pm last Tuesday night.

“Winnie the bulldog only barks if there’s something going on so when I woke up to hear that, I thought, what is going on?” she said.

“Quickly got my dressing gown on and by the time I got to the top of the stairs, looked down and I could see what was going on. I just hear Asif shout, phone the police and barricade yourself in.”

(Image: ITV)

CCTV footage of attack was played out on the ITV breakfast show, showing the brave estate agent landing several punches on one man, before taking on his two accomplices.

Asif, 35, told the GMB panel that ‘instinct kicked in’ and all he could think about was protecting his wife Charlotte, who was asleep upstairs.

Asif told GMB: “I knew Charlotte was upstairs so the instinct kicked in to protect my wife.

(Image: ITV)

“I flew into the second person. I knew if they were going to get past me they were going to get to my wife.

“If there was 100, as long as my wife is upstairs, there was no-one going to get through me.”

After being forced into the garden, one of the men threatened to kill Asif before going back inside wielding what is believed to be a screwdriver.

But quick-thinking Asif ran to the kitchen, grabbed two knives and chased them outside for a second time.

He said: "It appeared to be a knife. You could see the glimmer of the metal.The police think it was a screwdriver.”

(Image: MEN MEDIA)

Appearing with his wife Charlotte on the ITV show, Asif says he's released the CCTV footage in a bid to catch those responsible and is offering a £5,000 reward for any information which leads to a conviction.

Piers also took to Twitter to highlight Asif’s bravery, calling him a ‘hero’.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.