Community News - Macmillan Online Community

‘I felt so much love and support from my fellow carers that sometimes my screen was in danger from the wet of my tears! - What the Community means to me…Vol 3: moomy’s story

A very Happy New year from everyone on the Community Team, we are excited to kick off the year on the Community News Blog with the third volume in our series ‘ What the Community means to me…’ This series highlights just how much support, friendship and kindness is shared on the site every day. Today moomy shares her story, why not take a moment to read through? Missed the last instalment? You can click here to read Johnty and popgate’s stories. ‘I’m really called Helen. I know, the onsite name isn’t my real one! I joined the Online Community so many years back that I’ve seen it change a few times. I’m not even sure quite how long ago it was that I joined. It was then organised into two main groups, ‘General’ and ‘Chat’. I posted a question in ‘General’ but looked across at ‘Chat’ and saw…

Former Member
And last, but not least - our third and final Christmas prize draw

So far, we’ve asked for your favourite Christmas traditions and songs and what a response we’ve had! It’s been wonderful to hear all about what our members do over the holiday period and today, we’re wanting to hear more. This week, we are giving away 9 echo dots. Echo dots are smart speakers which you can use to voice control your music and smart home, connect with others by making calls and it comes with in-built assistive technology where you can ask 'Alexa' to answer questions, read the news, check the weather, set alarms and more. Our prizes this week have been kindly donated by Loyalty Consulting UK Ltd. Christmas can be a magical time of the year but it can also very difficult. Therefore, we want to focus on how you look after yourselves throughout the holiday period. We want…

Ellen - Macmillan
‘Just remember you are what's important. Take time for yourself' - (Gingebiscuit) Wellbeing round up: December

While December can be a month of excitement, celebration and time spent with family and friends it can also be a very difficult, stressful and conflicting time for many. Taking time to look after yourself amongst the busyness of the season is so important, so why not grab a hot drink, snuggle up warm and read through some of the wellbeing tips from the last month? 'Time is precious, people are precious, and a good mindset says " don't waste energy stressing over stuff that we just don't have control over but put our energy into getting through each day and enjoying the moment" - coffee time I say. - Thehighlander "they will pass and there will be better days." ‘I find myself having lots of low days and what gets me through them is knowing that they will pass and there will be better days…

Former Member
'But wait—there’s myrrh...' Our second Community Christmas prize draw is here

Today we are excited to announce the second of our festive prize draws. Thank you to everyone that took part last week, we loved to read about your Christmas traditions. This week we’re giving away two care packages which were kindly donated by Cancer Care Parcel . These thoughtful care packages include both useful and fun things that anyone who may be having treatment or going through a difficult time may find comforting. Included in the care package: To enter the draw: This week we want to hear your favourite Christmas song, whether your partial to some Mariah Carey, Wham, Slade or anything else, we want to hear what you love to listen to around the festive period. Just comment your favourite Christmas tune in the Comment section of the blog below. T&C’s: The prize is a…

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
"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
News from the Community Team - Our new Notification Button

Hi everyone, We thought we would use today's Community News Blog to communicate an exciting new development on the Community. You may have already noticed this on your profile, but you should now be able to see a button labelled ‘Notifications’ when you log into the Community. This is our new notification button. This means that anytime anyone interacts with you on the Community a number will appear next to this icon and when you click on it the interaction will be shown. This is also known as ‘live alerts’. "...it’s easier for everyone to have all their notifications in one place..." We have been working on this so that it’s easier for everyone to have all their notifications in one place and you can see clearly who has responded to your posts and interacted with you on the site. …

Former Member
'My consultant's favourite quote was, "It's not a walk in the park, but it's doable" Mouth Cancer Awareness Month- Chris's story

As the end of November draws in so does the end of Mouth Cancer Awareness Month which takes place every November in the UK. To mark this, we have asked our Community Champion chris2012 a few questions about his experience of being diagnosed with mouth cancer. Why not take a look through Chris’s story? When were you first diagnosed with mouth cancer? When were you first diagnosed with mouth cancer? My name is Chris I am aged 58 and live with my wife and son plus our two mini Dachshunds. I was first diagnosed with floor of the mouth cancer in October 2008 and had my first operation on 5th of November that year followed by 30 zaps of radiotherapy and 3 chemotherapy. This cancer started off with what I thought was an ulcer on my bottom gum but was proved to be a cancerous tumour. "My consultant…

Former Member
'It is a much-loved family recipe'- Dining with an Ostomate: Spaghetti bolognese and carbonara

Debbie, our wonderful 'chef to ostomates' is back today with not one, but two delicious spaghetti recipes. All of Debbie’s recipes are, of course, designed with Ostomates in mind and in case you’ve missed any of her recipes to date, you can find them all in our Ileostomy, colostomy and stoma support group here . So why not put an apron on and get cooking! Enjoy… Here are two recipes with pasta, a failsafe for me when I need to thicken my stoma output. I love to have mushrooms in my Bolognese but with that and celery, I was a bit wary of it at first - until I decided to try blitzing the veg et voila! Dry frying the meat means it’s a healthier recipe than most Bolognese, which add oil. The Carbonara is a great comfort food that I often ate after chemotherapy. It is a much-loved family recipe…

Former Member
"It's heartwarming for me when I see in print that someone has wished me well...it's better than any pill I could take." - 'What the Community means to me...' Vol 1: tvman

Here on the Community News Blog we want to showcase just how much support, friendship and kindness is shared on this site every single day. To try and shine a light on this we are starting a new series called ‘ what the Community means to me…’ which looks at some of our member’s stories, how they came to find the Community and what it means to them to be on the site. In our first volume today tvman shares his story, why not take a moment to read through? Tvman about to plant bulbs with his grandson and wife watching. Tvman’s story I was diagnosed with Myelodysplasia (MDS) in March 2015. This diagnosis followed a period of time that my haemaglobin level was up, it was down but the general trend was downward. So in February 2015 I underwent a bone marrow examination. Getting the sample taken…

Former Member
"So why are pets great? Because without them, I don't know if I'd still be here, and if I were I'd not be as upbeat as I am!" - why pets help us and our wellbeing

This week, we’ve been asking the Community about the benefits of pets. We’ve really enjoyed putting this piece together and it’s clear to see our pets mean so much to us. They can be our most loyal companions, our shoulder to lean on and an ever-lasting source of comfort and love. It’s been so lovely to see all of the responses we received and I’ve no doubt you’ll all love them too. "...the crazy cockapoo welcome I get on my return from work is the perfect antidote from the strains of the most stressful day." 'We had never had a dog before and had always planned to get one when we retired. Retirement plans were sadly brought forward for us upon my husband's diagnosis 4 years ago but we decided to put our retirement plans into action instead of on hold and we found our adorable Milo. Milo…

Ellen - Macmillan
"I have always thought that giving up is not an option, it's more of a stepping stone to what is next" - thoughts from our Community Champion, Mike

Last week on the Community, we spotted this response from Thehighlander , one of our dedicated Community Champions. We couldn’t help but share it, it epitomises the very essence of peer support and that’s what the Community is all about. Enjoy… On the 10th May 1999 I was told that I had a rare type of Skin Lymphoma, so for over 20 years I have lived all the levels of acuity and stress so do understand the 'low' moments a cancer diagnosis brings... what did I do to overcome them? 20 years back I was told that my condition would 'get' me at some point in time, someday, some year but with no calendar... I very quickly come to realise that I could not let my condition define me. A good consultant friend told me very early on in my diagnosis that "all the stress and worry in the world would…

Ellen - Macmillan

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.

Additional content from Macmillan

Access cancer information and more stories from around Macmillan.

Cancer stories and resources

Get further support from our Men and Cancer campaign:

Find the words to talk about cancer