Holiday ideas during a break in cancer treatment with children

[banannabreadforme]

My husband has lung cancer which has spread to his brain and liver. He has completed 6 radiotherapy and 4 chemo and having immunotherapy. Our children are 10 and 12 and we'd like to go on holiday when there's a break in treatment. We asked the dr who's said it's ok to fly.
Where is a sensible place to go? What kind of a holiday should we have? Any advice would be appreciated
Many thanks x

So sorry about your husband. When I was in cancer treatment chemo radio surgeries I was advised by oncologist to stay in UK or France and be within an hour of a hospital. Advantage of UK is any medical care is free and don't need insurance.

Have any type of holiday you like but your DH may tire easily so would work around that. There's a charity that do free holidays for cancer patients called Something to look forward to, often have to apply for a few but we got a week in Cornwall in June. We did a day trip to Isles of Scilly, that is a lovely place and can get there on helicopter, small plane or boat but boat can be rough. Tresco gardens are lovely you can kayak -I could kayak fine and swim fine but walking was more challenging with breathlessness and neuropathy in feet, it will vary person to person and by chemo. It maybe on a day or two you take kids out and he rests if that would work for you all. I also did outdoor things so lower infection risk. Hope you have a lovely time.

https://somethingtolookforwardto.org.uk/

Contact macmillan and sort out health insurance- make sure it’s watertight. Fatigue will be a big issue- can you go somewhere with on site stuff the children can do so he can rest? Even centre parks etc?

I’m so sorry you are going through this very difficult time. I am going to suggest France - maybe somewhere in the northern Vendee/Loire, like La Baule Escoublac, as well as beautiful beaches, there is an excellent university hospital at Nantes should you need it - I sincerely hope you don’t.

The area is very relaxing, chateaux and sea breezes with clean air, pine trees and cycling routes..
Make sure you are insured (I’m sure you know that) and get GHICs.

If you have a Blue Badge, the french are typically very good at accepting them. Consider driving down as it’s not too far and you can stop overnight on the way although it’s only about 4 hours from Caen. If you do take the ferry, don’t take the overnight as you will get very little sleep and arrive knackered at about 5.30 - 6am.
Confession - I checked trip times & location with ChatGPT so pop your question into there as there are a lot of recommendations.
Have a wonderful trip.

I also would say France- you could think about doing the Brittany Ferries overnight to St Malo, I have found this actually to be quite a relaxing way to travel and have slept OK.
Where in the UK are you?

@banannabreadforme has your husband got a picc or port? You obviously can’t fly with one in. And also depends if there’s any surgery in the near future on how long you can fly. But I appreciate everyone’s journeys different, just letting you know some things they told me. When my picc came out the first thing I did was book a holiday to Portugal, reasonably cheap and close to home. Travel insurance an absolute fortune £300-£400+ but it was lovely. As others have said; which I also agree; I was quite tired so make sure your partner can rest as and when needed if possible. We also have 2 young kids so was a bit difficult with the kids and the luggage but we managed and it was lovely, zero regrets.

@OneZanyCat thank you for that link, I know it wasn’t shared for me but it seems great I am going to take a look. What a lovely thing to do for people to look forward to. Currently lying in bed in hospital, these things really would pick people up.

Thank you very much everyone you've all been brilliant xxx

How about Northern Ireland? You can sail with the car or fly. There are some beautiful beaches and scenery, museums, castles, theatres, and the like. It also has some excellent hospitals within an hours drive of almost anywhere in NI, and is part of the UK so you don’t need to worry about accessing healthcare if needed.

What does he want to do? I’d let him take the lead on planning so it feels like something he has control over. We went on two holidays when I had a break from treatment - one a city break in mainland Spain, one a resort in Lanzarote that was more pool, beach, spa, relaxing. Both were great.

The main thing is just letting him be in control of the itinerary and how much is packed into the day and if he wants to do stuff or if he wants to rest. I definitely needed rest every day, so like on our city breaks we either rested in the Airbnb all afternoon and went out for the evening, or we had a busy day and just had snacks and pizza and an early night..

Do take into consideration the travel there. Choose a close airport, less stuff to carry, flight times that don’t require missing half a night of sleep, etc to preserve his energy. And go somewhere you feel comfortable with. I’ve travelled a lot to Spain and speak some Spanish so I didn’t feel out of my depth.

For insurance, InsuranceWith is highly recommended. The woman who started it also has had cancer.

The UAE / USA / India are realistically the only places where I’d go & be able to trust the private medical treatment if he needed help. Goa is nice & a popular destination for Cancer patients & there are several resorts close to good Cancer hospitals. Dubai / Abu Dhabhi also have some amazing resorts near great cancer hospitals.