ON HIS SON’S CANCER BATTLE
SUNDAY MIRROR
did everything they could to make them comfortable.”
A tearful JeanChristophe added: “Every day, it seemed there were more children, more people going through the same hell. What got me was driving to hospital every day, seeing the chimney.
“It gave me a flashback to when I was in France. Years ago, anyone who didn’t make it had a funeral in the chapel and was cremated at hospital. I wondered if that’s where we were heading. Every time I saw it, I was in tears.”
Heartbreakingly, Jean-Christophe has not revealed Valentino’s illness to his elderly parents Jean, 77, and Monique, 84, who live in his native France.
He said: “I can’t – it would kill them. They have photos of Valentino all over the house but they have not yet met him. Thankfully, they don’t use the internet.”
Neuroblastoma has one of the lowest survival rates of childhood cancers. Around a third of sufferers will not see their fifth birthday. But tests have shown Valentino’s cancer has not spread, which means his outlook is far more positive.
Those diagnosed before they are one are far more likely to beat it, with survival rates around 83 per cent.
The couple have been allowed to take Valentino home.
The tot – named after JeanChristophe’s Italian grandad – will return for four rounds of chemotherapy.
Michelle said: “Our other boys adore Valentino and just want to kiss and cuddle him. But I have to stop them in case they pass on any infections as he has no immune system because of the chemo.”
The support from friends, family and people across the UK has given them strength and they say they couldn’t have got through without the care of staff at Luton & Dunstable and Addenbrooke’s hospitals. Jean-Christophe cancelled work commitments and the Novelli Academy cookery school, attached to their home, will be closed until New Year as Valentino cannot be around lots of people.
But the chef will today return to work outside of the school for the first time.
Michelle, meanwhile, looks to the future with hope. She said: “What’s keeping me going is the thought of Valentino walking me down the aisle at our wedding, as a little page boy.
“That’s a nice thought to keep in my head on the darker days.”
Jean-Christophe and Michelle have donated their fee for this interview to C2, the paediatric oncology ward at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.