November is Lung Cancer Awareness month. When you or your loved one has lung cancer, it's important you can find the right emotional support.
In this Community News blog, we'll be highlighting the support shared in the Community's lung cancer forum and sharing some other ways you can find help.
The Online Community's lung cancer forum is an online support group. It's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and you can find support from people who understand. Because they've been there themselves.
You might be looking for tips to help you get the best from your cancer nurse and healthcare team or ideas around coping with side effects and improving quality of life. You might just need to talk. Whatever support you're looking for, the lung cancer forum is here for you.
“We are all here to support each other as it can be difficult to talk to the family because you don't want to upset them. At least you can put your feelings down in words and there's always someone who has been there and will let you how they dealt with it, you never know it might help.” – GrumpyNana, lung cancer forum
As Community member ‘GrumpyNana’ says, the members of the group are all here to support one another. Sometimes there may be things you don't want to talk to your nearest and dearest about. The Community is an anonymous place where you can share your feelings and talk about what you're going through.
When Community member 'Little she' came to the forum for some moral support, members rallied round to offer support.
"Hi am feeling a bit down today due 2nd chemo and immunotherapy on 1st Dec but have felt awful for the last two weeks not sure if I want to go ahead..." - Little she, lung cancer forum
Members of the lung cancer forum were on hand to offer lots of virtual hugs and to share their experience to help 'Little she' feel less alone.
"...read your post and my heart went out to you and I send you a big hug...We all get days like you’ve described, but please don’t give up..." - marie1964, lung cancer forum
"Bless its hard struggle I'm same I'm 51 terminal lung cancer which has spread incurable but it's just a new adjustment to a new journey ...everyone's journey different I'm looking forward to going get a Xmas tree comfortable warm lights on lovely, hope you feel more better soon xxxxx" - Toniblade, lung cancer forum
"Don't give up. 4 years ago I was told I had 3 to 6 months I had stage 4 lung I have done immunotherapy for 18 months now last week a pet scan reported no active cancer in my body. This has came as a shock I have had every side effect there was and will be on a box of meds for the rest of my life and I no longer have a proprietary gland this makes all hormones in body.
But all I can say is I now have a life ahead of me so all worth it.
Immunotherapy has alllowed me to, not only meet my granddaughter born 6 months ago, but maybe see her grow to have her own children one day. Find the thing to live for and keep fighting for it x Best of luck" - Gill321, lung cancer forum
"Hi. I am new here and just wanted to say how much I find the replies all positive. I do not have this cancer myself but a close member of my family suffers, she is upbeat and having good care thankfully. Wishing you all the best and stay safe." - JanDeb, lung cancer forum
Like Community member 'JanDeb', not everyone in the lung cancer group has cancer themselves. Some members come to the group when they're supporting a loved one with lung cancer.
New member MJ88 shared their feelings when their mum was sadly diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to the spine.
"My mum is only 63 and she is my absolute best friend. I speak to her everyday and can't imagine my life without her. I can't stop thinking about everything we are going to miss out on together and I am beyond devastated." - MJ88, lung cancer forum
Again lots of members were on hand to offer support, including this lovely message from Dorris16
"I feel your fear and stress - its heartbreaking but you will cope and I hope you have great support. I promise you some days are good ahead ..I was like you 5 month again nothing online showed any hope ..you find hope daily, it tests you. But you will be OK. Sending lots of love to your mum and all of you." - Dorris16, lung cancer forum
Community Champion chellesimo also had some sage advice to offer.
"I am sorry to hear about your mums diagnoses. It is heart breaking when a loved one receives a cancer diagnoses. My cancer is secondary. It started in my womb, and then came back 5 years later in my lungs. I was told I was incurable, but treatable, and 6 years later I am still stable. You can read my journey by clicking on my profile picture which will take you to my profile.
It is great to hear your mum can have immunotherapy. There are a few people who have had immunotherapy in the group, and have finished their treatment and are still stable. Not everyone is suitable for immunotherapy, so it is good that your mum can have it.
It is so easy to google everything these days, but the internet is very outdated. Please remember that lung cancer treatments have come such a long way in recent years, especially with immunotherapy being used alongside chemotherapy.
I hope your mums treatment goes well for her. Take care x"- chellesimo, lung cancer forum
If you're supporting a loved one with lung cancer, you can also find support from our family and friends forum in the Community. We also have a dedicated space for carers only, a safe and supportive space for caregivers to share their worries and emotions.
Anyone affected by lung cancer can also search for local support groups through our ‘In Your Area’ pages on the Macmillan website here. Type in your location and then you can narrow down your search with the filters and keyword search. If you need further help finding the right support, please do reach out to our Support Line. Our Support Line teams are available 7 days a week, 8am-8pm on freephone 0808 808 00 00, email or live webchat.
Looking for further information from Macmillan about lung cancer?
You can find our online information and support pages about lung cancer here.
Our booklet ‘Understanding Lung Cancer’ is available for download or order here.
You can also find further support from charities specialising in lung cancer support in the links below.
Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
We hope you've found this blog helpful in outlining the support available to people affected by lung cancer from the Online Community, in addition to linking you to other useful resources from Macmillan and other organisations.
We'd welcome your comments and feedback in the comments section below, or you can contact the Community team privately by email at community@macmillan.org.uk
We'd also love to hear from you if there's a subject you'd like to see in a future Community News Blog.
