Community News - Macmillan Online Community

If I could go back to the day of my cancer diagnosis

The moment of a cancer diagnosis can feel like stepping into uncharted territory, bombarded with unfamiliar terms and overwhelming emotions. As we approached the end of 2023, we posed some questions to the Online Community, inviting members to reflect on the day of their diagnosis. “If you could go back and speak to yourself at the time of diagnosis: What words of comfort, advice or encouragement would you offer? What lessons have you learnt that you wish you knew from the start? What wisdom or guidance would have made a difference?” Community members replied with some profound insights and reflections. Here are snippets from some of the members’ responses. Reflections from the Online Community “When you are first diagnosed with cancer you are plunged into a whole…

Dylan - Online Community Team
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" - Community Christmas prize draw

As the nights draw in and each day ends, we get closer and closer to Christmas. It’s a time where we often look back and reflect on the year that’s been and think of the things we’re grateful for and we're grateful for you - the thousands of members who make this site the true community that it is. To mark that, we’d like to be able to give a little something back. Throughout the Christmas period we’ll be hosting three prize draws which are all free to enter. We’ll be asking you for a few of your favourite Christmas jokes, traditions and more. This week, we’re giving away a beauty hamper, kindly donated by Boots, who have been partners with Macmillan for 10 years and raised a massive £16.6 million for us. Boots also have specially trained Macmillan Beauty Advisors who offer face-to-face…

Ellen - Macmillan
Fixes and issues - an update for members, October 2020

In this blog, you’ll find some more updates about issues and fixes on the Community. We’d like to say a huge thank you for your continued support and patience at this time. We’re still working really hard behind the scenes and resolving issues as fast as we can. If you’re continuing to experience problems on the site then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on community@macmillan.org.uk . We also have our help pages which have step by step guides on using the Community, if you feel you might need some extra support. Reply button not fully responsive This is an issue where users are selecting the ‘reply’ button in a thread and the reply box doesn’t always appear. It looks like this: Where normally, a reply should look like this: This issue is intermittent, and does not…

Ellen - Macmillan
How reflexology helped me – Charlie’s story

In today’s Community News Blog, Charlie shares with us how reflexology has supported her throughout her cancer journey. Charlie was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery in January this year. She wanted to share with all of you how a few simple techniques have helped her with stress, sleep, bowel movements and swelling. She’s kindly put together some videos for us, to show us some simple self-help reflexology tips. Why not have a go and let Charlie know what you think in the comments section below? What is Reflexology? I wanted to share my story and cancer journey so far as I have been enormously helped by Reflexology and the benefits of reflexology seem to be quite unknown. As a Clinical Reflexologist I have been helped through my journey using a range of simple self-help…

Ellen - Macmillan
You never see it coming - Jon's story

Jon had barely heard of penile cancer before his diagnosis at 40. To help raise awareness and share his experiences, he started sharing his story across social media to keep his family and friends up-to-date. This led to the knob blog , where Jon continues to talk about his experiences of diagnosis, treatment and side effects. In today’s Community News blog, Jon reflects on his experience with penile cancer, and how humour and his blog have helped along the way. *Early disclaimer: My blog posts might be sweary, and can be extremely graphic. I will often make light of what is an incredibly serious subject too. You have been warned!* Cancer is going to affect half of us We all know someone that’s had cancer, but we never really think it’s going to happen to us. At least, I certainly didn…

Ellen - Macmillan
Life after cancer – getting the all-clear, recurrence anxiety, and moving on

The Macmillan Online Community plays host to a wide range of different discussion forums. As well as different forums for a whole range of cancer types, the Community also has spaces for a range of cancer experiences. One such space is our Life after cancer forum . It’s a common misconception that every person will have an exclusively positive reaction to being given the ‘all-clear.’ It’s tempting to think that getting this hoped-for news will be the moment all your stresses and worries instantly melt away forever. But is that true? Although feelings of relief are common, they can sometimes be short-lived, or at least far more complicated under the surface. “How do we do this? How do we manage to put one foot in front of the other and get out the door? Then meet people, who may…

Matthew - Online Community Team
Viewing groups - which do you prefer?

Hi everyone, It’s Ellen here from the Community team. We are hoping to get your thoughts on a change we are thinking of making to the way you currently view groups. We’re looking at making this change based on some of the feedback we’re seeing across the site, and within the feedback survey. You’ll see a poll below this post, where you can vote for what you like best. Currently, when you go to your group, you see a list of discussion titles. This is shown in picture A below. This view allows users to see the title of the discussion, but they need to click into the discussion to see any of the posts there. The other option we have is to change this view so that when you go to your group, you see the latest activity within the group. This is shown in picture B below. This view allows…

Ellen - Macmillan
Signatures are back

Hi everyone, We are happy to say that signatures will be back on the forum. We know how important these are for our members and we received a lot of feedback from you telling us you'd like to see them underneath each of the posts you make. Signatures will now appear underneath every reply, but not underneath the original post (the post that starts the thread). This is the only way we can configure signatures in the new platform. We're happy to have these back up and running on the site and we'll look to release this at 1pm. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the team on community@macmillan.org.uk Best wishes, Ellen

Ellen - Macmillan
Waiting for Breast Biopsy Results

Receiving a cancer diagnosis is one of the toughest moments a person can face. Whether it’s you or a loved one, going for a biopsy and waiting for test results can be a nervous and anxious process, as they can potentially affect the rest of your life. About 55,000 women are diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the UK every year. There are also around 390 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK. As one of the UK’s most common cancer types, we take a deeper dive around the Breast Cancer forum within the Community and see how other members have reached out for support during a difficult time. What the Community says If you or a loved one have recently had a biopsy for breast cancer and feel worried about the results, you’re not alone. There are a lot of members who post on the Online Community…

Syed - Macmillan
Help us shape the Online Community

Here on Macmillan's Community, we want to make sure our online space grows and develops in line with what our members want and need. That's why we're reaching out to you, our valued Community, to share your thoughts and ideas. Below we have a few polls asking for your vote on how you'd like to see our digital space develop and grow. We would love for as many members as possible to take this opportunity to actively contribute to the future of our Community. Your thoughts and ideas hold immense value which is why we want to hear from you. By sharing your vote with us, you're playing a vital role in helping us shape the Community and helping others get the most from the site. More ideas? Why not share them in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!

Ellen - Macmillan
“I’m fine”: how do you really cope as a carer?

Community member and Macmillan volunteer Wee Me has been through a lot since her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour in August 2020. Along the way, she has learned a lot about her own resilience and looking after her wellbeing. You might have read Wee Me’s story in her recent guest blog, “Caring for a partner with a brain tumour.” Today, Wee Me is talking about the coping strategies that work for her and how it’s ok to cope in a way that feels right for you. One of the frequently asked questions or themes running through the ‘Carers only’ group and many other groups within the Macmillan Online Community is “How do you cope?” How many times have you been asked that and replied along the lines of “I just get on with it. I’m fine.” Now I can’t begin to imagine the emotional journey…

Eliza -Online Community Team
"Macmillan’s community becomes my lifeline as in my own community, cancer is still a taboo" -Renita's story

Renita, known as RMD in the Online Community, was diagnosed with invasive multifocal ductal and lobular breast cancer at 48. In this blog, she shares her diagnosis story, the challenges of treatment, and how the Macmillan Online Community became a source of support, hope and reassurance when she needed it most. Cancer was not on my radar until my mum found a lump. In May 2025, during my morning call to my family in India, my sister says, “Now don’t panic but…” “What’s happened?” I cry in full-blown panic, frantically googling flights to India. My mum takes over, calm and unruffled. She is the matriarch of the family, our strength and rock. As usual, just hearing her voice makes me feel better, but what she says has me hyperventilating again. She has found a lump in her breast. It needs…

Megan- Online Community Team