Community News - Macmillan Online Community

The Cancer Experience Forums – finding peer support to match your situation

What’s in a name? The meaning of ‘Cancer Experiences’ might not be as obvious as ‘Cancer Types’, but it’s a good way of summarising the wide variety of support groups you can find in this section. While the Cancer Types section helps members with a similar diagnosis to find and support one another, the groups in the Cancer Experiences section gathers people around the various situations and circumstances they might encounter when cancer impacts the life of themselves or a loved one. When you visit the Cancer Experiences section, you will find all of the support groups listed in alphabetical order. To help you discover which groups might be most relevant to you, this blog aims to organise the different support groups into a few common categories for you to browse. New members and general…

Matthew - Online Community Team
Kidney Cancer Support

We know how important support groups can be after a cancer diagnosis. For kidney (or renal) cancer patients and loves ones alike, it’s important you have somewhere to reach out for support and connection. Today we’re catching up with our Kidney cancer forum. Whether it’s you or a loved one with a renal cancer (or any other form of kidney cancer) diagnosis, there is always somewhere to reach out for support. There are different types of kidney cancer. Whilst most kidney cancer diagnoses are renal cell carcinoma, we appreciate it is not always the case and our kidney cancer forum is for all cancer diagnoses related to the kidneys. In today’s Community News Blog we’re going to highlight some recent conversations from the forum. We’ll also talk about the kind of support you are likely to find…

Tom C - Online Community team
Cancer & me 35 years on - Hong Kong and Back to reality

Photo of the ruins of St. Paul's in Macau, China taken by Willo. We are back today with the next instalment of Willo’s blog series ‘Cancer & me 35 years on’. Willo is a member of our Community who was diagnosed with Anal cancer in 1986 while living in Zambia and has been sharing her experience of living through and beyond cancer, as well as her amazing artwork and photographs, in her blog series with us since last summer. So far Willo has covered her experience of moving back to England for treatment, her Abdominoperineal Resection , going back to art school post-surgery and the amazing friends and family that helped her through. In today’s blog we are back with Willo today to hear about her experience of traveling to Hong Kong in 1990 during a difficult time for her health. “After the…

Former Member
The power of shared support on Macmillan's Online Community

When you first join the Community, supporting others might be the last thing on your mind. You might have just received a cancer diagnosis , feeling alone and fearful of what lies ahead. You might be reeling with news of a loved one’s diagnosis and not sure how you’ll cope. You might be struggling with cancer treatment and just want someone to talk to in the middle of the night. Although finding support might be your initial need, you might be surprised to find that by simply posting here, your words will help to support others. We hope it brings you comfort to know that by sharing your personal experience here on the Community, you become part of a powerful social network of peer support . "I came on your thread to comfort you and you've given me comfort right back! Thank you" Community…

Steph - Online Community Team
Diagnostic testing for endometrial cancer- Jane’s story

Jane was treated for endometrial cancer in 2022 and became a Community Champion in 2023. She volunteers in the Womb (uterus) cancer forum and across the Online Community. Members often turn to Macmillan for support during the diagnostic process so Jane is sharing her personal experience undergoing diagnostic testing for endometrial cancer, which may provide some reassurance if you have concerning symptoms. Dealing with symptoms My first symptom was a heavy vaginal bleeding where I passed palm-sized clots. This caused some cramping and lightheadedness. I also felt some lower back pain. After general checks at A&E, I was seen by a gynaecologist who referred me for further testing, and I was put on the two-week cancer referral pathway. I was unhelpfully told that only ‘one in ten ladies…

Megan- Online Community Team
Men's Health Awareness Week - Dan wants you to douche it

Did you know that it’s Men’s Health Awareness Week 14 th - 20 th June 2021? The recent Macmillan campaign ‘ Tell Us The Score’ explained that men represent 51% of people diagnosed with cancer, but that only 37% of the calls to the Macmillan Support Line come from men. Similarly, members of the Community are less likely to be men. This means that men are missing out and aren’t asking for, or getting, the essential support they need from us. We want to encourage men to start opening up about cancer and ask for support if you need it. You might worry about how your diagnosis will affect your loved ones. You may have questions about your rights at work, your symptoms, or your money worries. Or you might want someone to talk to, even though you feel under pressure to ‘man up’ and stuff your…

Steph - Online Community Team
Cancer & me 35 years on - Vol 7 - The recovery

Today in our Community News blog we are very pleased to welcome our guest blogger, Willo, back with the seventh instalment of her blog series called ‘Cancer & me 35 years on’ . In this series, Willo, known on the Community as patsyann85 , tells us about her experience of being diagnosed with Anal cancer in 1986 while living in Zambia. We will be sharing more of Willo’s writing and incredible artwork throughout the next few months in the Community News . If you missed Vol 6 – ‘ The Abdominoperineal Resection with Colostomy ’ you can click here to catch up. Vol 7 - The recovery As you may have seen in the last chapter, my abdominoperineal resection was in November 1987 and coming round from the procedure (as everyone who has had major surgery will know) found tubes feeding in or out of every…

Former Member
Dating with a stoma- Sarah's story

As part of the Dating and cancer series, Sarah shares her journey of navigating the dating world since her bowel cancer diagnosis in 2018 and why being open and honest about her stoma bag is important for her. “I've really welcomed having a stoma bag because my bag saved my life. I was always going to embrace it, but it is something that factors into my dating life. If you're going to be intimate with someone or if you're going to live with someone, you have to have a conversation at some point about the bag.” Watch the video below to hear Sarah talking about her dating experiences living with a stoma. If you have a dating with cancer experience you want to share, or have been thinking about starting a new relationship but are feeling worried, join the Let’s talk about dating and…

Megan- Online Community Team
Holly’s Cancer Poems: Cancer and money (Part 4)

Over the course of Holly’s Cancer Poems, we’ve gone through diagnosis, surgery and chemotherapy. Holly was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2005, and her poems explore her emotions and experiences around cancer at the time. Within today’s blog, Holly talks about her experience of radiotherapy. Holly also talks about the other impacts of cancer such as higher bills and living costs. This is the last instalment of Holly’s cancer poems. If you’ve been enjoying the series, why not let Holly know in the comments below? If you’d like to catch up on Holly’s poems, you can view her previous blogs below: World Poetry Day: Holly’s Cancer Poems (Part 1) Holly’s Cancer Poems: Coping with chemotherapy (Part 2) Holly’s Cancer Poems: Finding support and talking about cancer (Part 3) …

Eliza -Online Community Team
World Lymphoma Day: "My illness did not define us, our strength and courage did"

The 15 th September is World Lymphoma Day, a time to raise awareness around symptoms and diagnosis. To mark it, Mike has written about his experience of being diagnosed and the treatment he received. Mike, from Inverness in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland, is married with two daughters and four granddaughters. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1999. He also has his own blog called Thehighlander’s journey . I often refer to my 19-year journey with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as my Magical Mystery Tour. Lymphoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK. It can occur across the age ranges including children but it is on the whole very treatable with people living for many years after being diagnosed. But the diagnosis of Lymphoma can be long and drawn out as Lymphoma…

Megan- Online Community Team
Diet and cancer on the Community...

Who doesn’t love food? It’s a huge part of our lives – both in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but also a social sense – catching up with family and friends, celebratory occasions etc. If you’re healthy, eating the right number of calories and nutrients might not be a problem. However, if you’re receiving treatment for cancer this can be a difficult thing to do – treatment might result in you feeling unwell and unable to eat or digest certain foods. The Community’s a great place to be in the sense that here you can talk to, offer suggestions and support to others who might be struggling with their diet as they go through treatment. I’ve picked a few discussions and highlights from the Community where members have been supporting each other when it comes to diet and cancer. Diet and soya…

Former Member
'I honestly don't think I would be here now if I wasn't told about this site' What the Community means to me...Vol 2: Johnty and Popgate

Today we have the second instalment of our ‘What the Community means to me…’ series. This series highlights just how much support, friendship and kindness is shared on the site every day. Today we have two members, and Popgate sharing their stories and discussing what it means to them to be on the site. Why not take a moment to read through? Missed our first instalment? You can click here to read tvman 's story. Johnty's story: 'I was diagnosed 17 months ago with a rare incurable blood cancer and for the first year I coped all by myself, but as my disease has progressed and is now terminal, I wanted to create a support network for myself. The Macmillan forum has come to play a big part in my emotional well being. "It has meant so much to me to feel useful again..." I have taken all…

Former Member