Gold Coast hospitality king Pat Gennari still grows: ‘I had cancer, lost an eye but who f--king cares’

The Gold Coast hospitality king Pat Gennari has opened up on his melanoma battle and losing an eye - but reveals it’s not stopping his next plans. Read the exclusive interview.

La Luna Beach Club at Marina Mirage was attended by 250 guests on Tuesday for its launch party night.

A DEFIANT Pat Gennari is standing on a walkway between two swimming pools that form the centrepiece of his newest hospitality venture, La Luna Beach Club.

Surrounding him are 250 guests, friends and loved ones including his mother, teenage son and girlfriend Bianca Zell.

“Even though I have had cancer and lost an eye, who f--king cares?,” he says to cheers and yelps from the crowd.

“We are going to make more things happen, we’ve got other projects ahead but we are going to have a break for a while and enjoy this one.”

But the celebratory scene is a far cry from 18 months earlier when his life was totally turned upside down in an instant.

Pat Gennari at the launch of La Luna Beach Club, Marina Mirage, on the Gold Coast, on Tuesday night.

In an emotional and revealing interview, the longtime hospitality king opens up on a cancer battle which claimed his left eye and his fight back from being house-bound, depressed and being told by doctors to stop working.

It all started early last year when driving to one of his venues, Glass at Marina Mirage, and he started going blind.

A visit to an optometrist revealed his retina was falling off, a common problem quickly fixed if surgery is early enough.

But instead he got a scan and was told by medical specialists there was a 99 per cent chance “you have melanoma in your eye...a 2cm round melanoma”.

Mr Gennari notes: “You eye is only 4cm.”

“He said ‘We have to pull out your eye today’ – and he said ‘I’m not even sure we can save your life - if it’s seeped out of your eyeball and gone into your brain or bloodstream, you are finished’.

Pat Gennari and Bianca Zell at La Luna Beach Club, Marina Mirage - Mr Gennari says she gave him the “kick up the arse” he needed to get back working and expanding his hospitality empire after losing eye to melanoma.

“So the retina falling off my eye did me a favour. I couldn’t see. The melanoma growth caused the retina detachment. I literally would not be here today. It would’ve been a matter of weeks - melanoma in the blood stream or your brain. That’s the point of no return.”

He had 24 hours to adjust to the fact he was about lose one eye and was one of seven people in every million who gets melanoma there.

“I thought I was going to die for 24 hours when he said it was 2cm. I thought my life was over. I thought about my son, my girlfriend, my parents, what am I going to do with all my businesses,” he said.

He lost his eye on April 1, admitting along with it went his “depth perception”, his natural confidence, ability to see well at night and motivation to venture out socially.

Mr Gennari: “I’ve always been a confident guy but since the eye I stopped working at night as I found it difficult to see.” Picture: Jerad Williams

“When it first happened it felt like it took part of my brain and I wasn’t as switched on as I could be. It made me question myself. I rung the doctor and said ‘I’m feeling this’, and they said it’s normal, it takes two to three years before it’s normal.

“I’ve always been a confident guy but since the eye I stopped working at night as I found it difficult to see. I still go in and look over the places but not as much as I used too.”

His doctors told him he needed to be wary of stress and stop working.

It was a shock for the 52-year-old in the hospitality game since he was 18 working for his dad’s venues in Thailand and started his own ventures in his late 20s.

He had to wait six weeks for the eye to heal post operation - and he says he spent a lot of that time watching TV and putting on 12kg.

Mr Gennari has been told to stop working by doctors after losing his eye to melanoma - but just recently launched new venture La Luna Beach Club, his fourth now at Marina Mirage. Picture: Jerad Williams

“I had no motivation to go out, staying home, was feeling sorry for myself, thinking what am I going to do with my life. I was super depressed, feeling a bit vulnerable and because I couldn’t see anyone on the left side it’s totally difficult.

“I used to be a really confident guy. It has made me feel insecure.

“I became angry with everything. I had worked so hard in my life to try and achieve the best you can and then you kind of feel robbed. It was like ‘I’m not finished yet, I’ve got so much more to offer.”

He thanks girlfriend Bianca Zell for being instrumental in getting his motivation back to start La Luna restaurant last year and now new ventures this week, La Luna Beach Club and associated Mare restaurant, noting: “When the doctors said ‘You can’t go into work any more’, Bianca kicked me up the arse and said ‘You can’t just sit here and do nothing’.”

La Luna Beach Club fireworks at its launch, at Marina Mirage, Gold Coast on Tuesday night.

Ms Zell, now 24 and with Mr Gennari for four years, said: “I was kind of like ‘What? We sit here and be sad about it or move on’. I’m always looking forward. I was very much ‘Sort it out - you can’t be sad forever.”

Mr Gennari: “She motivated me big time.”

Soon after he opened La Luna restaurant last year in place of Saks at Marina Mirage after the Mirage owners Jason and Natalie Makris asked he take over the space.

“Little did I know it would become the success it did. That’s made me feel confident again, knowing I can keep developing and growing.”

Fast-forward to this week, and he has followed it up with La Luna Beach Club, Mare restaurant and has plans in the wings for another venue outside his four-strong Broadbeach stable further south.

A saxophonist plays at La Luna Beach Club’s launch party.

But he will take the time to enjoy La Luna Beach Club first, telling guest at Monday’s launch: “We are going to make more things happen, we’ve got other projects ahead but we are going to have a break for a while and enjoy this one.”

Mr Gennari says the scare “makes you really appreciate your life, rethink everything.

“You think you’re bulletproof and can go go go. Success gets the better of you, you think you’re untouchable. You put your health last until something important happens.

“I’m not blaming my doctor, he’s great. I’ve been to many skin specialists and its never been mentioned to me to check my eye for melanoma.

“That’s why I’m doing this story - for awareness. It’s not just skin, it’s eyes as well.”

GENNARI’S SOFTER SIDE - THANKS MUM

GOLD Coast hospitality king Pat Gennari showed his softer side at the launch of his new venture this week.

An emotional Mr Gennari told 250 guests invited to the opening of his floating bar and restaurant, La Luna Beach Club, he couldn’t thank his landlords, mum, son Jackson and Gennari Group general manager Steven De Maio enough.

“I just want to say I love you mum for putting up with all my s---. I love you also Jackson. I’m sorry for not always being around, I’m kind of a busy man.”

He had a special thank you for Mr De Maio, promoted to the role 18 months ago when Mr Gennari lost his left eye to melanoma cancer. “I can’t thank him enough – and if I keep talking about him, I’m going cry. He goes above and beyond.”

Mr Gennari also had special praise for Makris family who have Marina Mirage for believing in him, Open Projects for building the floating beach club and design teams August Homes and Gennari Group mainstay Spaced Cubed.

Originally published as Gold Coast hospitality king Pat Gennari still grows: ‘I had cancer, lost an eye but who f--king cares’