Community News - Macmillan Online Community

Mouth Cancer Action Month

November was a rather busy month for awareness days, weeks and months, and whilst it’s a couple of days late, the following blog recognizes Mouth Cancer Action Month. Here’s one of our Ask An Expert dentists, Judith and Lynsey, to share with you some information and tips on coping with mouth cancer. Mouth problems are a common side effect of head and neck cancer and its treatment. Getting support from a dental professional early in the process can really help to minimise discomfort and improve your quality of life. Before treatment – get a specialist assessment: If you’ve been diagnosed with head and neck cancer, you will likely be referred to a specialist clinic for a full dental assessment before treatment starts. This clinic will likely continue seeing you during and after treatment…

Former Member
World Hello Day

Today, November 21 st , is World Hello Day – a day to promote peace, bridge barriers and make a difference to someone’s day through a simple ‘hello’. To recognise the World Hello Day, I thought it’d be a great idea to put a Macmillan spin on the day by sharing a couple of soundbites and pieces of feedback for the Community that illustrate how a simple greeting and the friendliness of one user to another – someone they’ve never met before, can have a huge impact on someones life and really help them with whatever difficulties they might be facing. So sit back, take a pew and enjoy – and if you’ve had any similar experiences on the Community, go ahead and share them in the comments below. “I am so proud of how far we have all come. It was difficult to see the light at the beginning but we…

Former Member
World Vegan Month - Alice's Vegan Pumpkin Spiced smoothie recipe

November is World Vegan Month - a time to celebrate how far veganism's come in recent years, and a time to share vegan tips and recipes with those interested in the movements potential benefits. Our Online Community's resident dietitian, Alice, has taken the time to write about why veganism's grown so rapidly in popularity, its benefits, and she's also shared a rather tasty 'Vegan Pumpkin Spice' smoothie (trust me, I made it myself over the weekend). Enjoy! Veganism is a diet that excludes all animal products including meat, dairy and eggs. It has become an increasingly popular and mainstream lifestyle over the past 10 years. Its growing popularity seems to be due to two main factors: Desire to protect the environment and reduce harmful farming practices. Desire to live a healthier…

Former Member
Top tips for self care

This week’s Self Care Week, a week that focuses on embedding support for self-care across all walks of life. To recognise the week, our fantastic Social Media team have tweeting their top tips on looking after yourself. We’d love to hear yours too, so go ahead and share them in the comments below. If you're finding things tough, it can help to take things one day at a time and not look too far ahead. You may find that things get easier to cope with as time passes. Doing even the smallest tasks may help you feel better. If you can, get up and dressed every day Try to eat well every day. If you have eating problems or a poor appetite, talk to your doctor or nurse. Try to exercise regularly. Keep to a regular sleeping pattern if you can. Stay in contact with your family and friends…

Former Member
Silver Linings - Nicky's story

A couple of weeks ago I received a lovely letter from a lady called Nicky, who'd included in this letter a short story called 'Silver Linings'. I found the story such a positive and optimistic read that I had to share it with the Online Community. Nicky shares with us her story from an initial diagnosis, to present day where she's 3 years on from surgery. What struck me was how Nicky was able stay so positive both during and after treatment, and keep living and enjoying life. I hope you all like the story as much as I did. "It may be rubbish or it might help one other lady see beyond her treatment. To see the 'Silver Linings' during and afterwards. To keep her going." (Nicky) "No" she shouted in her head, as Chris, the Macmillan nurse went through everything the surgeon had told her. Like…

Former Member
Movember - "I think it was being able to tell her how I was feeling ... that gave me great comfort."

It’s November, which also means it’s Movember – that time of the year when gents all over the world commit to growing luxurious and stylish upper lip ‘jackets’ (or ‘moustaches’) to raise awareness and funds for various men’s health issues. We’re lucky enough this month to have Rob, one of our wonderful Online Community members, share his experience with prostate cancer, and how he’s approached and dealt with the emotional impact of the diagnosis. Unfortunately, there’s often a stigma when it comes to gents opening up about their emotions and mental wellbeing – Rob’s story’s a great example of how opening up helped him cope, and also brought him and his wife, Sue, closer together. I do believe, now having been through chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer, that the emotional side of…

Former Member
Lung Cancer Awareness Month - Cheryl's story

"Shine on, you crazy diamond!" November's Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and to recognise this Cheryl, one of our Online Community members, is sharing her experience with the cancer, which her dad, Derek, sadly passed away with earlier this year. On February 26 th , 2018 my lovely dad, Derek, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer – non-small cell lung cancer with metastasis to his ribs, lungs, lymph nodes, spine, pelvis and hip … it had completely taken hold of him. My dad’s battle didn’t last long, he passed away in the local hospice on June 17 th – Father’s Day of all days, just three and a half months from his diagnosis to him losing his fight. His diagnosis came as a massive shock. I knew my dad wasn’t a well man as he had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and had smoked…

Former Member
CBD oil - amendment to Macmillan's Online Community Guidelines

Over the past couple of months, CBD (or cannabidiol) oil has risen in popularity with increased availability of the product. As a result, it’s often been a popular discussion topic on the Community. Due to our Community Guidelines though, discussions on cannabis and its derivatives have always been banned. However, with CBD oil becoming readily available on UK high streets earlier this year, coupled with increased research and awareness into the product and its benefits, the Online Community Team has decided to allow these conversations to take place. It should though be noted that if discussions on CBD oil develop into discussions on cannabis itself, we’ll continue to remove this content – this is because cannabis itself is still an illegal product in the UK. Here are the updated guidelines…

Former Member
"How my world changed overnight - thanks to you, Paddy."

S aturday, October 20th marked the start of International Brain Tumour Awareness Week , and to recognise this, Paula, one of our brilliant Online Community users, has agreed to share her story and experience. Well, where to begin ... I’m single, 46 years old, and in February 2018 I saw my GP who thankfully, due to his quick thinking and concern SAVED MY LIFE! He rushed me into hospital where within 4 hours I was told I had a brain tumour, suspected to be malignant. I was immediately referred to Kings Hospital in London and rushed in to meet my surgeon who advised the tumour would be removed March 7 th (I couldn’t be beforehand as there was too much swelling in my brain – they did confirm I have one, so I should be grateful for the small mercies I guess! I remained within Medway Oncology…

Former Member
World Mental Health Day 2018

Today's World Mental Health Day (10/10/2018), so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with the Online Community some tips on dealing with difficult emotions, and generally improving your mental wellbeing. Whether you have cancer, care for someone with cancer or someone close to you has cancer, a diagnosis can bring with it a myriad of emotions: Anger Shock Disbelief Anxiety Guilt and blame Sadness Fear and uncertainty Loss of control, independence and confidence … and many more. There’s no right or wrong way to feel; everyone’s different and may feel differently at different stages of a diagnosis. You might often feel confused about what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling this way - you might have frequent mood swings too. Many people go through varying emotions…

Former Member
Womb Awareness Day 2018: "You're too young to have cancer."

September is Womb Cancer Awareness month and Womb Cancer Awareness Day is the 20 th September. To mark it, Sarah has written about womb cancer and what to be aware of. Sarah was diagnosed with womb cancer in June 2017. She loves jigsaw puzzles, scuba diving and enjoys visiting Egypt where she has lots of friends who live there. Sarah also runs her own blogs, Fatigue vs frustration , Concentrate on the what is and not the what ifs , It’s the season! and How life changes after cancer . It still surprises me today whenever I tell people about my cancer diagnosis. It’s: “oh you’re too young to have cancer”. I was diagnosed with womb cancer in June 2017 and, to my surprise, only 1% diagnosed are in my age group. I was 37 at the time of my diagnosis and what surprised me the most is I hadn’t…

Former Member
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

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