A Liverpool-based restaurant owner has found solace in charity work after being diagnosed with incurable cancer.
Elaine Kinsella, who owns the independent restaurant Lunya with her husband Peter, was diagnosed with Multiple myeloma - a bone marrow cancer - in January 2021. What followed the diagnosis was six months of “aggressive treatment” which consisted of chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant.
The 58-year-old, who lives in Oxton, Wirral, has been in remission for 18 months now but has been warned her cancer is one that “comes and goes”. Wanting to stay positive the former University of Liverpool student has been “distracting” herself by giving back to those who helped her during a “low” time in her life.
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The former education psychologist, who is originally from Sheffield, told the ECHO: “I went to the doctors with back pain and the blood results were a bit off. Thankfully, the cancer was caught really early on but it was a double shock because although it is very treatment it is incurable - it comes and goes.
“I felt so down and low - every morning I woke up thinking about it and every night I would go to bed doing the same. It is a release-remitting cancer so my thoughts are just about when is it going to come back.
“It feels a little like the lottery because there are people who are in remission for two months and others who are in it for twenty years but eventually it does tend to come back.”
Elaine’s Multiple myeloma diagnosis came after she was initially diagnosed with stage one Thyroid cancer at the start of the pandemic. As a result of this, she lost half of her thyroid in the bid to remove the cancer.
When she was in Clatterbridge Hospital receiving treatment for Multiple myeloma, Elaine wasn’t allowed any visitors for four weeks due to the pandemic. She said because of this she spent a lot of time contemplating and in light of the “amazing treatment and amazing staff”, she “knew she needed to do something to give back”. She added: “For me getting involved with charities gives me hope.”
In an attempt to raise money for charities that are helping those going through a similar experience to herself, Elaine set up a £1-on-bill initiative in both her Albert Dock and Liverpool ONE-based, Catalan-inspired restaurants. With the help of Lunya customers, the scheme raised over £50,000 in total for local charities after Elaine and her husband, Peter, topped up the amount collected.
Just last weekend, the couple handed over an £18,000 cheque to The Bloom Appeal: Merseyside Against Blood Cancers at their spring charity event. Elaine has been supporting the charity over the last year following her own diagnosis and was invited onto the board of trustees.
Husband Peter said: “We’ve seen first-hand the incredible work the charity does in aiding research and supporting people living with blood cancer with financial grants. It’s so important for us to raise money for local charities and put money back into our community to people who need it most, and after Elaine went through treatment herself over the last two years, it means a lot for us to be able to support this cause.”
There are at least 100 different types of blood cancers and every year approximately 1,250 people in the Merseyside region will be diagnosed with blood cancer. The money raised will go towards the vital work the charity does in funding research and education regarding blood cancers and giving financial grants to patients living with blood cancer in the region.
Elkan Abrahamson, chair of the charity, added: “At such challenging economic times, it’s amazing that local charities such as ours still receive wonderful support to pursue our important work.”
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