TV chef tells how fiancee nearly died as she kept vigil for sick son
CELEBRITY chef Jean-Christophe Novelli has told how his fiancee almost died from a blood clot that developed as she kept a vigil at the bedside of their cancer-stricken son.
While paramedics fought to save Michelle Kennedy, 41, at the family home, Novelli, 56, watched helplessly via a video link from his phone as he sat with baby Valentino in hospital.
The deep vein thrombosis formed in Michelle’s leg as she stayed with her seven-month-old son during chemotherapy sessions.
She collapsed in front of her terrified older sons Jean, eight, and Jacques, four, on a rare night off. Jean-Christophe had taken her place as she was exhausted.
The clot had travelled to Michelle’s spine and could have killed her if it reached her heart or lungs. She was JeanChristophe nearly lost fiancee Michelle Kennedy and their baby son saved by friend Kerrie Duggan, 39, who was staying with her at her Hertfordshire farmhouse, and called 999 for help.
Michelle said: “I cuddled up with my boys. I woke at 5am feeling strange. My leg was really sore but I assumed it was because the boys had slept on me.
“Then I saw how swollen it was. I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I had no idea how critical things were.”
She staggered into her friend’s room before passing out.
Jean-Christophe said: “I tried not to think about the prospect of losing them both. It’s only now I realise just how close Michelle came and it doesn’t bear thinking about.”
Valentino was diagnosed with neuroblastoma last October. He had four rounds of chemotherapy but in January had to have two more courses. Doctors warned it was so harsh there was a 30 per cent chance the baby would die.
Medics believe Michelle’s lack of movement while with Valentino in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, caused the DVT, which struck in February. A previously undiagnosed condition, May-Thurner Syndrome, which compresses veins, put her at further risk.
The mother of three spent 10 days in St Thomas’s Hospital in London receiving clot-busting drugs and then had an operation to widen her leg veins before racing back to Valentino’s side.
“I didn’t think about the effect it was having on my own health. All I could think about was Valentino,” she said.