Cornish holiday firm and cancer charity offer families seaside escape

A Cornish holiday letting business is helping families affected by cancer enjoy respite breaks in some of the most beautiful parts of the UK.

Aspects Holidays, which manages holiday properties around the Cornish coast, has teamed up with ‘Something to Look Forward To’, a charity offering free gifts and experiences to people with cancer and their loved ones.

Some 40 Aspects Holidays’ home owners have come forward to donate time in their properties to people going through the challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis, including the financial burden. Many owners have become regular doners since the partnership was forged in 2022.

Alex Moore and her family have recently returned from a sunshine-filled holiday at Serenity, an Aspects Holidays property in Bude, Cornwall.

The 47-year-old mum from Essex was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. In 2022, she discovered the disease had spread to three places in her spine.

Alex has undergone months of hospital treatment, surgery and intense physiotherapy and has had to learn how to walk again.

Being able to go on holiday to Cornwall with her husband Ben and their teenage sons, Max, 18 and Jayden, 14, plus Max’s girlfriend, Paige, has given Alex a huge morale boost.

She said: “You can’t put a price on how important it is, not just for me but for my whole family, especially my husband, who has basically been holding everything together for us.

“My hospital visits are every three weeks and then I have scans every three months. You feel like you’re just living between those appointments, waiting for a good result.

“Being able to get away for a few days and make those memories together, it makes all the difference.”

Alex originally got in touch with to ‘Something to Look Forward To’ on behalf of her mum, Geri, 74. She too has been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer and has been going through treatment at the same time as her daughter.

They were looking forward to holidaying together but not long before their departure date in May, Alex’s father John underwent heart surgery and was still recovering.

In the end, it was Alex, her husband and children who travelled to Bude for a traditional seaside break in their Aspects Holidays home which had been donated by its owner for a week.

Alex said: “It was lovely, really lovely. We went to the beach, the kids played in the sea while I was just happy sitting there with a book.”

Alex says she’s trying to stay optimistic and doesn’t like to dwell on the future.

She said: “You have to make the best of what you’ve got, don’t you? It’s easy to be depressed and miserable about this horrible situation, but I’ve been given the chance of being alive and what’s the point if you’re not living?

“That’s why this holiday meant such a lot to us.”

Francesca Abery, Managing Director of ‘Something to Look Forward To’, said the charity was happy to help.

“We’re so pleased that Alex and her family were able to enjoy a break away in Cornwall. We’ve managed to secure so many holidays through Aspects, one of many companies that kindly support us in our aims to relieve some of the physical, mental and financial burdens that cancer can bring.”

Francesa said many families she sees are enduring ‘cancer poverty’ associated with the costs of the disease. This could be because of a loss of income through being unable to work, travel costs associated with treatment which is often far from home, and having to buy new clothes because of weight loss.

Commercial Director for Aspects Holidays, Mandy Spencer, said: “We’re extremely grateful to our network of holiday home owners whose generosity means we can offer these respite stays through ‘Something to Look Forward To’. We’d like to do more and would encourage other owners and local businesses to consider what they could offer to help more families living with cancer.”

Individuals and companies can offer anything from holiday stays to theatre tickets, restaurant meals, beauty treatments and more. To find out more, see somethingtolookforwardto.org.uk