When MasterChef Australia contestant Eloise Praino was handed an apron at the auditions, her father, Lucio, was positively bursting with pride.
“I’ve never seen anybody as excited as he was when I walked out with the apron,” Eloise, 32, smiles.
There’s another reason it was a special moment for Adelaide law clerk Eloise and her dad. Just four years earlier, Lucio was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukaemia.
“He was extremely sick and in hospital for three months,” Eloise says. “The doctors said there were a couple of times when we almost lost him.”
Eloise describes watching her father fight for survival as “the worst experience of my entire life”.
“It was so tough,” she says. “But my family all pulled together and I think by maintaining our happiness and positivity, it helped him stay upbeat.
“I really believe he got better because he had a good attitude about it, and he just didn’t give up.”
Eloise grew up cooking alongside her nonna.
Sadly, however, the family’s health troubles weren’t over. Two years later, Eloise’s mum, Dorina – now divorced – was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“It was quite late-stage,” Eloise explains. “She had a mastectomy, and chemotherapy for nearly 18 months. It wasn’t nice to see her go through that.”
Happily, in March last year, Dorina was given the all-clear.
Eloise admits watching both her parents fight cancer within a four-year period “sucked”, but says it’s only made her stronger.
“It’s all turned out fine,” she reasons. “I can look back and draw the positives from it because it’s all OK now.”
