MKR stars cook for cancer treatment

Belinda MacDonald and Neena Truscott are auctioning their cooking skills for Angela Sunkel. Photo / Stephen Barker

On camera, My Kitchen Rules New Zealand rivals the "Modern Day Hippies" and the "Corporate Dads" are locked in a tense battle for a $100,000 winners' cheque.

But off camera, the duos have united behind gravely ill Hamilton woman Angela Sunkel, who is battling a deadly form of cancer.

The 30-year-old suffers from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and has been undergoing chemotherapy for almost two years. But now the only option is getting a stem-cell transplant in America, which comes with a $1.3 million price tag.

Waikato residents have rallied around Sunkel, including Cambridge-based Neena Truscott and Belinda MacDonald - MKR's Modern Day Hippies.

Along with the show's Corporate Dads - Auckland mates Josh King and Aaron Gascoigne - they sold their cooking skills to the highest bidder in online auctions held this week.

The auctions - which closed late last night - would see the winning bidders receive a three-course meal for 10 with wine to match.

Truscott said she first learnt of the newlywed's plight via Gascoigne, who was connected to a cycling team involved in a fundraiser for Sunkel.

She said offering to help was an easy decision to make.

"This is a young woman desperately in need of stem-cell treatment.

"Everything lined up and was being shown to us to do something, how could we ignore that?"

Truscott said she was proud that she was able to use the national profile she had generated via My Kitchen Rules New Zealand in a positive way.

"I have never been in a position to have any sway on anything but if this is something we can get out of the show then we'll use it," she said. Winners of the Modern Day Hippies auction should expect to receive "New Zealand on a plate", including their signature foraged fare. Last night more than $115,000 had been raised towards Sunkel's care via a series of online fundraisers and events in the Waikato.

Sunkel said the level of support had been phenomenal and a "truly humbling experience".

"People like Neena and Belinda, Josh and Aaron, who don't know me and have never met me and who have been willing to give up time and money has shown me how amazing and caring people are."

She thanked everyone who had rallied to help raise money.

"It has really helped to give me strength and hope," Sunkel added.

• www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/bonemarrowforlife;
• www.facebook.com/bonemarrowforlifetrust