Community News - Macmillan Online Community

Here's to our Champions this Volunteers' week!

The 1 st – 7 th of June 2021 marks Volunteers week here at Macmillan. This is a week dedicated to saying a huge thank you to all of our volunteers who dedicate their time to supporting people affected by cancer. Here on the Community team we wanted to dedicate today’s Community news blog to our very own group of fantastic volunteers, our ‘Community Champions!’ If you’re new to the site, you might not know what a Community Champion is, but you’ve more than likely spoken to one of our wonderful Champions, as part of their role is to help welcome new members to our Community cancer forum . The easiest way to spot one of our Community Champions’ posts on the site is by their signature. Each of our Champions has a version of the below badge in their Community signature which will appear under…

Former Member
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
Being bodies - breast cancer and wearing a breast prosthesis

Sapphie, also known on the Online Community as , was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 32. Sapphie talks us through their experience trying several different types of prosthetics following their breast cancer surgery in the 1990s, and how humour has helped them and their family over the years. I was diagnosed when I was 32 years old, after finding a lump and being told by a consultant I was too young to have breast cancer and was sent on my way. A few months later we moved to a new area. My new doctor referred me to a consultant took the lump seriously, and I was diagnosed with primary breast cancer. I had a radical mastectomy on the right and given options of further reconstruction in the future (this was normal in the 90s). I had a concave chest on the left, which caused a lot of laughter…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Skin cancer and Melanoma signs and symptoms check

You may have seen Steph’s recent blog about Sun awareness month and the practical tips to help keep yourself safe in the sun and ways to adapt to sun exposure. After reading this, you may have thought that you’re doing everything you can to protect yourself, but you’re concerned and worried about a new dark spot or mole lesions on your skin. As it’s Melanoma month, we want to share information about what you can do to check for signs and symptoms of Skin cancer and Melanoma. Skin cancer and melanoma- how do I check for signs and symptoms? About half of all melanomas start with a new, abnormal-looking mole in normal-looking skin. This usually looks like a dark area or a new mole that changes over weeks or months. Other symptoms of melanoma develop from a mole that you already have. It’s…

Megan- Online Community Team
Self-management for your own health and healthcare

Managing your own care can be necessary when dealing with a long-term health condition or illness, such as some cancers. It can be overwhelming to think about at first, especially when you might have been recently diagnosed. Learning more about self-management for your own health can help you at any stage of your experience with cancer. This can mean understanding your condition and what you might need, decision making, and knowing where to get help when you need it. We’ve created some quick links to help you to get to what you’re looking for: Understanding your diagnosis and side effects Managing treatment – appointments and medication Managing lifestyle changes – diet, work, finances Understanding your diagnosis and side effects Understanding your diagnosis and treatment…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Bereavement in the media - coping with grief

Today we are back with the third instalment of our series on coping with bereavement. This series aims to start conversations about grief and loss and provide reassurance that there is support out there if you have lost a loved one to cancer. Today we wanted to spend some time thinking about bereavement and the media and the effect it can have on those who are grieving. Whether you are watching your favourite television program, listening to the news on the radio, or scrolling through social media, today we are going to explore how the topic of death can sometimes feel like a trigger for those who are grieving, and how to navigate your relationship with the world on your screen or over the radio. We are also welcoming back our Community Champion DaveyBo today who helps support members in…

Former Member
Deaf Awareness Week 2021

This week (3 rd -9 th May) marks Deaf Awareness Week 2021, a week where we raise awareness of deafness and the Deaf community as well as the support available for deaf/Deaf people. You may wonder why I have written the word deaf with a lower-case d, as well as with an upper- case D. This is because we want to reach out to anyone affected by hearing loss, whether they are part of the Deaf community and identify as a Deaf person (Deaf), or not (deaf). The word deaf can be used to describe someone who is severely hard of hearing. With a capital D however, it is a term that is used to describe someone who is part of the Deaf community and culturally Deaf. What is the Deaf community? The Deaf community is a community of people who identify as Deaf and who share their culture and sense of identity…

Former Member
May is sun awareness month - let's talk about the sun, sunburn and skin cancer

We often refer to the sun when talking about happy times. Saying that sunny days make us feel good or telling someone you hope the sun shines for them. Comments about enjoying the sun might not always be appropriate, especially for people affected by skin cancer. We should be mindful of this when we're talking to others. We should also remember that sun awareness is a really important issue for us all. Sun exposure can put you at risk of sunburn, or skin damage. Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun is the main cause of most skin cancers. UV light damages the DNA (genetic material) in our skin cells and can cause skin cancer. In this Community News blog, we'll feature conversations from our skin cancer and melanoma forums. You'd be very welcome to join in if you have your own tips or questions…

Steph - Online Community Team
Notice: improvements release postponed

This morning, Wednesday 5 th May, we had planned to move forward with our first batch of improvements to the Community. As many of you may have noticed, the site was down for longer than we had expected. Unfortunately, we ran into some problems when we released the changes into the site. We did not want to introduce any issues into the Community, and therefore we made the decision to roll back the improvements. We are really sorry for any inconvenience the downtime may have caused, and we’d like to thank you for your continued patience. We’re working really hard to get this fixed, so we can release these improvements as soon as possible. If anyone has any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us by commenting below or by emailing us on community@macmillan…

Ellen - Macmillan
Improvements are coming

On Wednesday 5 th May, we will be introducing the first of our improvements to the Community. In our previous blog, ‘Look out for improvements’ , we announced that we would be making some key improvements to the site. We are continually grateful for all of the feedback that you send to us, the Community team, as this is what has helped us to work on the things that matter the most to our members. We’ve got three releases coming to the Community over the coming months. Each of these releases will bring improvements to the site – some small fixes and some larger developments. On Wednesday 5 th May, we’ll be introducing the first of these three. EDIT: We've been informed that there will now be some downtime needed to release these improvements. The Community will be down for half an hour…

Ellen - Macmillan
Being bodies - Sophie, body confidence and her double mastectomy

Our new series “Being bodies” aims to explore our relationships with our bodies, from head to toe and everything in between. We recently featured Sophi e ’s story, where she talked about her experience being diagnosed with the BRCA2 gene mutation at 24 years old. Today, she’s here to talk about how having a double mastectomy changed how she felt about her body, for the better. A bit about me... I’m Sophie, 28 years old, queer and a BRCA2 gene carrier. Many of my family members have been affected by breast cancer. At 24, I decided to get genetically tested for the gene after my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After that test came back positive for BRCA2, I decided to have a preventative double mastectomy with reconstruction. I have always had a positive relationship with my body…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Planned Online Community Maintenance - Thursday 28th of April, 4am onwards

Hi everyone, Due to some planned maintenance, the Online Community will enter a read-only mode for 4-8 hours, beginning this Thursday at 4:00am . It may last until midday but has been planned at this time to provide minimal disruption to our members. This means that you will not be able to log in, post or reply on the Online Community during this time. You will still be able to read posts and blogs on the site. If you feel you need some support while the Online Community is unavailable, please remember our Support Line is here for you. Our teams are available 8am-8pm, 7 days a week by phone on freephone 0808 808 00 00 and also by email or on webchat . Thank you for your patience and support as Macmillan continues to update and improve our online services. If you have any questions,…

Tom C - Online Community team

Awake and up all night?

We know that cancer can sometimes cause sleepless nights. Join our Cancer Chat forum for some company here in the 'Awake and up all night' thread.

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