Chef Novelli to marry his Irish fiancée as son gets all-clear from cancer

THE Irish fiancée of JeanChristophe Novelli has revealed that they are hoping to finally walk down the aisle after their two-year-old son got the all-clear from cancer

Michelle Kennedy, who is engaged to the Hell’s Kitchen star, told ITV’s This Morning how she and Novelli had been given the go-ahead to take their son home to his two elder brothers after more than a year in hospital.

She said: ‘We got the good news that Valentino is in remission. His [brothers] were so delighted.’

Little Valentino was just ten weeks old when Novelli and Dubliner Michelle, pictured, were told that their baby had neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer, in 2016.

Recalling that traumatic episode, Michelle said: ‘We took him to A&E and a couple of days later we discovered he had neuroblastoma.

‘The MRI revealed he had tumours all around his neck, it was awful.’

The couple were appearing on TV yesterday to raise awareness surrounding children’s cancer.

They spoke about how doctors swung into action. ‘It was too dangerous to operate on,’ Michelle said yesterday, ‘And [the tumour] is still there on his neck. But [chemotherapy] has shrunk that right down now.’

Throughout the family’s ordeal, the couple were fully aware of the suffering of so many of the other children also undergoing cancer treatment.

‘He coped like all the other children we met in the hospital, they really, really, suffer,’ Michelle said. ‘It is horrendous, they get sickness and blisters on their throats. It’s a poison.’

She described how the couple had to divide their time between the hospital and their elder sons at home, Jean, ten, and six-year-old Jacques.

She said: ‘Jean-Christophe had to focus on our two other sons and work at home and I had to stay with Valentino and be by his side and work it out from there.

‘The boys saw their mum have a baby and then she was whisked off with a baby and then they didn’t see me any more.’

Her French chef husband, who has cooked for A-listers like Madonna, said it had been heartbreaking to see his son suffer. ‘You can see the tears, you can see the pain,’ Novelli, 57, recalled yesterday. But he was overjoyed to see his son celebrate his second birthday recently.

‘When everyone was singing Happy Birthday you could see the [happiness] in his eyes for the first time ever,’ he said. ‘It was fabulous.’

Michelle said the couple will finally be able to walk down the aisle, adding, ‘if there is no more drama!’

Meanwhile, she reserved a special greeting for her Aunty Kitty in Ireland, saying: ‘She used to light a candle for him every day.’