In February 2020, Romano Marenghi’s world was turned upside down when he found out that his one-year-old son had a rare form of childhood lung cancer. His perspective on life changed significantly and he decided to focus on what makes him and his family happy.
During this time Romano’s son, Joey, began his rounds of chemotherapy, the family were financially struggling and relying on benefits to keep them afloat during the pandemic. Romano said: “We were on benefits, which wasn't great - it was just enough to kind of keep our heads above water. But I knew that this wasn’t going to last forever.” Before Joeys diagnosis, Romano worked on film and TV sets for the last 14 years and his wife Imogen was a teacher.
Romano said that Imogen is the reason for his decision to change his career, as she gave him the confidence and support to try a career that would make him happy. He said: “My wife Imogen is amazing - she encouraged me to pursue becoming self employed and focusing my energy into work that made me happy. I rebranded myself as MAAD Frog, which was abbreviated from Marenghi Art and Design, and I concentrated on commissioned comical character portraits, and various bespoke design jobs for the first year.”
Read next: Christmas in Bethlehem: The tiny Welsh village that once attracted people from all over the world
Since starting his new career as an artist, Romano said his mental health has gotten better since Joey's battle with cancer. He said: “This will be the second year that Joey hasn't had treatment, which has been brilliant, but the first year was very much a relief. I think that we've got through it, but there's all the extra worries about things coming back in later years."
Joey, now 3-years-old, has completed his chemotherapy and has been clear for the last two years. However, there's a chance it might come back. Romano said:"His cancer was so rare that he has scans every three months. But it's not always good wondering if something's like that is lingering - so far it's been all good."
Since working for himself, Romano and his family feel happier and have been able to spend more quality time together. He said: "As soon as you start working for yourself and earning money so that you can survive - that makes all the difference. I got to be with my family by working from home. I was able to take my daughter [six-year-old Esta] to school and then Joey started school and I was able to pick them up. That was really great. So I think it's been absolutely amazing for my mental health, to be honest.”
Romano said the only negative to his job was not being around people when working in his studio. But that soon changed when he created a colourful mural at the Toy Emporium in Pontypridd Market. He said: “It’s great to just talk to normal local people in the market, they’re my type of people. Spending many hours in the market, the relationships I made with the people from the Toy Emporium and the Salad bar really encouraged me that I was on the right track. I loved the reactions of customers and passers by and could see early on that what I was doing was having a positive effect on people and spreading real happiness and positivity."
He added: “I am a proud fourth generation native of Pontypridd myself, I have always had a keen interest in the history and redevelopment and rejuvenation of my home town. I’ve watched various places like the Lido and surrounding buildings go into disrepair but also start to see these places get a new breath of life put into them. After seeing signs of the market in Pontypridd recovering, I was excited to be part of that continued push within Pontypridd Market."
Romano took all his knowledge from previous jobs - working in animation and installing vinyl on vehicles - and put a plan together. “This project was all started because the large window above the Toy Emporium had recently been repaired and there was an opportunity to add something to this large ceiling space and make it an event to visit in the town centre,” said Romano.
“Apart from the character elements of the illustration, the rest of the entire mural was painted from the deepest parts of the picture, like the sky, the stars and the sea, up through the hillside onto the back parts of the trees and beanstalk. Then the install of the vinyl stickers of the characters and then integration and highlights. All the character elements were designed digitally to size and then sent to local printers Flagship signs.
"This all sounds simple but being someone who has spent most of his professional life with a team around him and designing at desk height and hasn't spent any time up a scaffolding, it turns out I'm not very keen on heights.
“There were certainly some scary moments, high up the scaffolding and in particular, single handedly installing the Moon and UFO stickers, there was lots of paint used but so far has been a real pleasure to do and a landmark project in my varied career so far.”
He added: "I definitely feel like I'm leaving my mark on the town with this mural, and a legacy for my children to see and hopefully feel pride in their father and who he is/was. One of my daughters friends asked their mother to send me a drawing they did of the mural after visiting it in the summer, which was very humbling for me. If I am to leave my mark this way, then I just want whatever I do to be a positive piece of work that brings people some sense of happiness and wellbeing.”
Romano’s plan is to do the entire ceiling space in this section of the indoor market, but due to energy prices and rising interests, this project has been put on a temporary hold until the New Year. Until he returns to finish his piece, he has found other work over winter and also plans to organise a fundraiser for Latch, after raising £10,000 for Noah's Ark and during lockdown.
He said: "Just after Joey finished his chemo, we raised ten grand for Noah's Ark. I'm going to be raising some money for Latch as well. The ones that's helped us out the most is Noah's Ark - they was just incredible, to be honest. But now I want to raise some money for Latch, since they helped us financially in the beginning when as a family we were trying to get back on our feet. I'm just trying to work out something that's not a run of the mill - I never do anything that's just straightforward."
Read more:
'I was told my cancer had spread in the middle of a work Zoom call'
'I'm running 100km in a day to support my desperately unwell fiancée'
Hairdressers' meaningful gesture to woman who wouldn't leave the house during chemo
The 10 different types of breast cancer you can be diagnosed with
New Velindre cancer centre on course to welcome first patients in 2025
