New charity aids cancer families

Pamela and Bridget Huggett both died from breast cancer

A man from West Sussex who has lost two wives to breast cancer has set up a charity to try to help relatives of cancer patients.

Paul Huggett, from Hurstpierpoint, said while there was much support for those who have cancer, relatives and friends were often forgotten.

Cancervive will arrange for people needing advice to get together with others with the same experience.

The charity has been founded by Mr Huggett, along with his two daughters.

Seven volunteers

He said he had thought he would have had more support when he lost his second wife to cancer.

He explained: "I was thinking, second time around it's got to be easier - there's going to be more treatment out there and there's going to be more help for all of us - sadly there wasn't."

Mr Huggett's first wife, Pam, died in 1995, after suffering from breast cancer for four years.

He married his second wife, Bridget, five years later, but she died last year, also of breast cancer, which was diagnosed six years earlier.

Cash boost

In total, the Cancervive charity is being run by seven volunteers who have personally been affected by cancer.

It aims to meet every three weeks from 22 April, at the Triangle Healing Centre, in Cuckfield.

The national charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, has supported the initiative with �500.

A spokeswoman said: "Macmillan Cancer Support works with a range of local voluntary and health and social care organisations, offering help like this."

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