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

Aspects Holidays 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 donors 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.

The 47-year-old mother 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, 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.”

The family travelled to Bude for a traditional seaside break in their holiday 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.

“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: .“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.”

Commercial director for Aspects Holidays, Mandy Spencer, added: “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.”