We’re coming to the end of 2022 and as the new year approaches, we wanted to take some time to look back at what’s happened on the Online Community this year. This blog is a short overview of some Community highlights.
The Online Community team would firstly like to thank all our members for the kindness and support that you have shown each other this year. There have been over 75,802 posts in our Community groups which shows the tremendous amount of peer support that can be found here.
We’ve had lots of new members join our Community in 2022 and the power of peer support grows every day in our Community groups. Connecting with others who share similar experiences can provide comfort and reassurance. There's spaces for loved ones and those living with cancer to find support 24/7.
“Coming on here listening and talking to members was an absolute godsend I don’t know how I would have managed."
Community member, Anal cancer forum
"This site has been my lifeline, made some good friends who supported me, and me them. You can ask us anything, tell us you are scared, whatever you feel, tell us, as we have all been there."
Community member, Skin cancer forum
"You are not alone, there are so many lovely people on here. They helped me and my husband through our lowest points, with great advice and encouragement. So lean on us."
Community member, Oesophagus cancer forum
"It does help to offload on here. I am truly grateful for all the support. I can say things on here that I perhaps would be unlikely to verbalise physically xx"
Community member, Breast cancer forum
Welcomed new Community Champions to the team
We welcomed three new Community Champions to the team this year.
SarahH21 , ArthurD and Kasvin . 
We hope you’ll join us in saying thank you to all of our amazing Community Champions who dedicate so much of their own time to support members of the Community and help the Online Community team.
If you want to know more about the role of a Community Champion, you can read our ‘Here’s to our Champions’ blog or reach out to the Online Community team by emailing Community@macmillan.org.uk.
Online Community featured in Macmillan’s marketing campaign
You may have spotted the Online Community being featured in some of Macmillan’s marketing campaigns on social media. This is to help people find the Online Community sooner as we often hear how people wish they would have known about the site at the point of diagnosis or before.
Community improvements
This year we introduced some long-awaited enhancements to the site. Click the link to read our ‘All the details you need for the upcoming improvements’ blog. We made some key changes to some core functions of the site such as:
Community News blog
The Online Community team published 99 Community news blogs in 2022, sharing a range of support information from cost of living resources to sharing personal stories. Click here to read our blogs and bookmark the Community news section.
We introduced the digital storytelling project to the Community which includes short videos of people affected by cancer sharing their personal experiences. You can visit the latest blog post by clicking here and there are also links to the other digital storytelling project blogs at the bottom of the page.
If you would like to be a guest blogger and share your personal cancer story with the wider Community, please do get in touch with the Online Community team. You can email community@macmillan.org.uk if this is something you would like to do, or if you have any questions bout being a guest blogger.
This year Macmillan’s Cancer information team started posting in their Online Community blog again to share trusted cancer information on the Online Community. You can click here to read more of their posts.
Do let us know if there are any topics that you would like to see in our blogs as we value your feedback and ideas.
We hope all our members will all continue to find lots of support here on the Online Community. The Community team would like to wish everyone all the best for the new year and if you need any support using the site, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. You can email Community@macmillan.org.uk or send a private message to the moderator account.
