Alex Halley, who worked with children at Richard Cloudesley School

THE former partner of a 27-year-old woman who died just weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer has told how she inspired him to create a charity in her name.

Occupational therapist Alex Halley, who worked at the Richard Cloudesley School for children with additional needs, died on October 12 last year, eight weeks after being given the devastating news she had cervical cancer.

Within a month of her death, her partner Aidan Solan had set up a GoFundMe page in her memory with the goal of fundraising for a playground for children with additional needs.

“I think it would make her happy,” he said of the plans, which are set to get underway next year after raising more than £90,000, explaining how it had always been her dream to create playgrounds that would include all children and not just the able-bodied.

“The fact that I think her legacy – which I would describe as just being the ultimate carer – is able to live on, and it’s something very real and tangible for the kids she worked with and obviously got the most joy from professionally and personally, I like to think she’d be proud.”

Ms Halley died in October last year, just weeks after being given the devastating news she had terminal cervical cancer

Mr Solan, a tech company executive, set up the Alexandra Grace Halley Foundation earlier this year and plans to keep fundraising.

While Mr Solan, 30, would like the playground to be as near as possible to her old school in Barbican, he said he was being “pragmatic” about it and would settle for the right site anywhere in London.

A bench made in her memory is set to be installed at Fortune Street Park playground in Barbican after undergoing an upgrade, expected to be completed next year. Previously, Mr Solan has described how suddenly the cancer took hold, explaining that while Ms Halley had been suffering from stomach problems before her death, she hadn’t thought too much of it.

It was only while feeling unwell at a friend’s wedding in Italy in August last year that Ms Halley received a call from her doctors with the earth-shattering news that she had cancer.

Ms Halley with Aidan Solan

She spent a couple of weeks going in and out of hospital before being checked in as an inpatient five weeks before she died.

Describing how the past year has been for him, Mr Solan said: “I’d say it’s been similar to a rollercoaster. You have your moments that are painfully difficult and you have moments where you almost forget about it for a second.

“I think the one thing that I would say for me is I’ve got an enormous appreciation for how lucky I am in terms of the friends I’ve got and the family I’ve got.

“Having that support network that I just have around me for when a tragedy like this strikes, it’s been so important for me having those friends, family, loved ones to be there when you are at the bottom of that rollercoaster.”

He advised anyone who “had a feeling there might be something wrong” to “err on the side of caution” and get tested as soon as possible.