Community News - Macmillan Online Community

Cancer & me 35 years on - Vol 6 - The Abdominoperineal Resection with Colostomy

Today in our Community News blog Willo is back with the sixth instalment of her guest 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 5 – ‘Jolly hockey sticks’ you can click here to catch up. I returned to Zambia, still working furiously (as I said previously, being faced with your own mortality really spurs you on) and everything was going smoothly until 18 months later when during a regular check-up my doctor (George again) felt something higher in the rectum. I could feel him flicking his finger…

Former Member
The bright side - Kevin's story

Kevin, known on the site as kevatvinegarhill , was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in March 2019. As part of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, he’s decided to share the story of his diagnosis and treatment with the Online Community. Unexplained weight loss, fatigue and a continual feeling of indigestion after hot meals. There couldn’t possibly be anything serious, could there? My GP thought otherwise and referred me for a series of tests which began in November 2018 and went on to March 2019. My GP rang me in March and told me it was suspected cancer, and that she wanted me to hear the news from her rather than get an appointment letter from the Churchill cancer unit in Oxford. That was very kind of her. By this time however, I had gotten quite jaundiced and the news did not come as any…

Eliza - Macmillan
Taking Care of Yourself – COVID-19 and Lung Cancer Awareness

Autumn is fully upon us and as the dark nights close in, it’s as important as ever that we have access to the support and health services that we need. In today’s Community News Blog, we’re talking about the impact of COVID-19 on health services and cancer. November is lung cancer awareness month too, so we will highlight some of the specific issues related to lung cancer. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on cancer patients. The first lockdown over the UK summer (April – August 2020) saw 350,000 less people put onto urgent suspected cancer referral lists. Not all those referred have cancer of course, but it does raise concerns about the implications for people that do. In a thread posted in our Lung cancer forum, 'mum diagnosed during pandemic' , we can read and feel what it’s like for a…

Tom C - Macmillan
Transgender awareness week

Friday 13 th November to Friday 20 th November is Transgender awareness week. To support this, we wanted to make our members aware of our LGBT+ forum . Should you need support for living with a cancer diagnosis and identifying as Transgender, this is a safe place for you to access support. It is a place for you to speak to others who may have had a similar experience and who can understand how you may be feeling. What does Transgender mean? Transgender is a term to refer to all people who do not identify as their assigned gender at birth/and or the binary male/female gender system. Assigned Gender is the gender a person is given at birth and what gets written on their birth certificate when they are a baby. Gender identity is a personal concept of oneself as either male, female, both…

Megan- Macmillan
Bereavement Support in the Online Community

On this day of remembrance across the UK, we’re talking about bereavement support in this Community News blog. We understand that the death of someone close to you isn’t something you ‘get over’. It’s something you attempt to come to terms with. The Community can be a comforting place to share your feelings and get bereavement support from people who understand. “I just don't know how to shake this feeling, it’s been a year and it feels raw now, it didn't feel that way last year I think I was just in shock, but I can't help but feel so lost without her.” - Mario189, bereaved family and friends group. Learning to live with your grief can mean so many different things to different people. There’s no set period of time in which you should expect to ‘feel better’. “No one knows how…

Steph - Macmillan
Planned maintenance - Tuesday 10th November, 7am-1pm

Hi everyone, Due to some planned maintenance on the main Macmillan website, www.macmillan.org.uk , the Online Community will enter a read-only mode between 7:00am and 1:00pm on Tuesday 10 th November. 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 on freephone 0808 808 00 00 , or by email or webchat . Thank you for your continued support and patience as Macmillan continues to update and improve our online services. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at community…

Eliza - Macmillan
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Did you know that November is Pancreatic cancer awareness month? Around 9,600 people are diagnosed with pancreas cancer in the UK each year. Here in the Online Community, the “Pancreatic cancer” forum has over 2400 members. This November, we wanted to shed light on the amazing support they offer 365 days a year. In 2020 alone, the “Pancreatic cancer” forum has had over 13 million views. Across 2019, members posted 1192 replies to posts in the group. That’s 1192 offers of support, sharing experiences, and care. Our members are here every day, to reassure anyone with who has been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, that they’re not alone. “…rest assured on this forum you will never be alone and i found the cancer nurses/doctors are always happy to discuss any concerns you may have” Kevatvinegarhill…

Eliza - Macmillan
'What grief has taught me' by Melanie - Vol 3 'The time for good self-care is now'

In today’s Community News Blog we have the final volume of our guest blog series, ‘What Grief has taught me’ by Community member MelanieL. Melanie has been a member of the Community and a contributor to the Prostate cancer , Carers only and Bereaved spouses and partners discussion groups for a long time. Melanie lost her husband Paul to an advanced form of prostate cancer in May of 2018. Throughout this series Melanie explains what she has learnt in her journey through bereavement so far, in the hope that it will be of help to many. If you missed Vol 2 of Melanie's blog, ‘The problem with looking too far ahead’, you can click here to read it. Vol 3 - The time for good self-care is now I have learned how important good self-care is. It can be so difficult to look after our own needs when…

Former Member
Cancer and Covid- Ruth's Story

October is Breast cancer awareness month and to mark this, Ruth sharing her cancer experience of being diagnosed with Breast cancer during the Coronavirus pandemic. Ruth talking about becoming a mum and being diagnosed, all during a national lockdown. I never thought I would be diagnosed with breast cancer, at 32, with a 7-week-old baby. I also never thought that I would be on my own when I heard those fateful words. But thanks to Covid and a nationwide lockdown, I was. I had found a lump in my breast whilst pregnant but thought it was due to the changes my body was going through anyway. However, after my daughter was born, the lump was still there. I also had problems breastfeeding on that side, so I decided to go to the GP to get it checked out. By this point, I was more worried about…

Megan- 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
'What grief has taught me' by Melanie - Vol 2 'The problem with looking too far ahead'

In today’s Community News Blog we have the second volume of our guest blog series, ‘What Grief has taught me’ by Community member MelanieL. Melanie has been a member of the Community and a contributor to the Prostate cancer , Carers only and Bereaved spouses and partners discussion groups for a long time. Melanie lost her husband Paul to an advanced form of prostate cancer in May of 2018. In this series Melanie explains what she has learned in her journey through bereavement so far, in the hope that it will be of help to many. If you missed Vol 1 of Melanie's blog, 'The ever changing journey of my grief', you can click here to read it. Vol 2 - The problem with looking too far ahead I have learned that it is important not to look too far ahead and not to think too much about the future.…

Former Member
Mental Health Check in

It was World Mental Health Day on Sunday 10 th October. Since then, there have been many conversations about our mental health. The Community is a place for these conversations to continue alongside being a source of support. Our Mental health and wellbeing are just as important as our physical health, so we should take the time to understand how we are feeling, and how we can look after ourselves. “Sorry about my long post, it's made me feel a little better to actually type this all out though and see it in print.” moosiemoo , Supporting someone with Incurable cancer forum “ I just feel like I need to voice my feelings, and this seems a safe place to do so.” Sunflower1988 , Follicular lymphoma forum “My biggest distraction is my family, looking after my boys, and enjoying conversations…

Megan- Macmillan

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