PRESS RELEASE
Two youngsters who have both survived cancer were invited to cut a huge birthday cake when a Nottingham restaurant held an anniversary celebration with the help of a city charity.
Amy Rhodes, seven, and five-year-old Emily Thomas took up their cake slices last night at COSMO Authentic World Kitchen in Milton Street, which celebrates its three-year anniversary this week.
The pair were invited for tea along with their families as part of COSMO’s ongoing partnership with Nottingham charity When You Wish Upon A Star, which grants wishes for children living with life-threatening illnesses.
COSMO donates the proceeds of its Family Tuesday events to the charity, which has lined up treats for both girls over the next couple of months, including a Princess-themed eighth birthday party for Amy on Sunday, where she and 40 friends and family, including mum Maria, dad Ben and sister Maisie, will be given red carpet treatment and enjoy makeovers, music and dancing.
It is the first proper birthday party that Amy, from Arnold, has ever had after she was diagnosed with Wilms tumour – a cancer that starts in the kidneys – at the age of three.
Over the next two years she underwent four weeks’ worth of chemotherapy, had to have her kidney removed and was given radiotherapy and further course of chemotherapy. She has now been in remission for nearly three years.
Emily’s treat, meanwhile, is a closely-guarded secret, but it promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the youngster, who underwent four rounds of chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia when she was just seven months old.
Having once spent five months of her young life in hospital Emily, from Mansfield, now only needs attend for regular check-ups but her family – mum Rebecca, dad Danny and brother Dylan, two – will have to wait until August next year for her to be given the final all-clear.
COSMO has raised money for When You Wish Upon a Star for more than two years by charging £1 for children on Tuesdays and giving the proceeds to the charity. Last night it served the cake as well as special birthday macarons and cupcakes to customers along with around 150 other dishes from around the world.
James Brion, director of Nottingham’s COSMO Authentic World Kitchen, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Amy, Emily and their families for helping us celebrate our third year anniversary.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed our association with When You Wish Upon A Star so it was only fitting that they came along to help us mark the occasion tonight.
“Anyone familiar with Nottingham’s restaurant industry will know that while it is vibrant, it is extremely demanding for operators, and so we are very proud with what we have achieved over the past three years in such a competitive marketplace.”
For more information on the charity please visit www.whenyouwishuponastar.org.uk Families who want to take advantage of the Kids for £1 deal can download vouchers from the restaurant’s Facebook site at www.facebook.com/cosmonottingham
ENDS
Picture above shows: From left, Wish Bear, the mascot for Nottingham charity When You Wish Upon A Star, with young cancer survivors Amy Rhodes and Emily Thomas, who cut a huge cake to help mark the city’s COSMO Authentic World Kitchen restaurant’s third anniversary.
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