Community News - Macmillan Online Community

Community upgrade: an update for members

On 29 th July, we launched an upgrade of our Community site. The changes we have made are to ensure that the Community is working on a much more stable platform so that our users encounter less technical issues and that we can grow and develop the Community in a safe and well-supported way. We are not where we had hoped to be since launching the upgrade. We are working through a list of bugs and issues which we did not expect to see and these are taking much longer to resolve than we had hoped. We are grateful for all of the feedback we are receiving from our Community and we are listening. We have been escalating these issues and logging each and every one to ensure that we are capturing as much feedback as possible. Survey Results We recently launched a survey, asking our members…

Ellen - Macmillan
Planned maintenance - Thursday 10th September, 6am-10am

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 6:00am and 10:00am on Thursday 10 th September. The main Macmillan website (macmillan.org.uk) will also be unavailable from 6:00am-10:00am. This means that you will not be able to log in or post 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 patience as Macmillan continues to update and improve our online services. If you…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Cancer & Me 35 Years On – vol 4 – Brachytherapy – (the Radium Needle Implant)

Today in our Community News blog Willo is back with the fourth 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 3 – The journey home , you can click here to catch up. My younger son spent as much of his Easter holidays with me as was possible and we travelled far and wide together, spending several days in London with friends who drove us all around the sights - and we also saw Les Miserables from the cheapest seats up in the gods, looking down on the heads of the company,…

Former Member
Dining with an Ostomate - Golden goats' cheese, beetroot and squash salad

We are really pleased to be back this autumn with another instalment of our ‘Dining with an Ostomate’ series. Today we are sharing Debbie’s recipe for golden goats’ cheese, beetroot and squash salad. Debbie is our wonderful ‘chef to Ostomates’ and all of her recipes are, of course, designed with Ostomates in mind. 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! I often make this when I have left over squash, and halve the recipe to make a more substantial main course for two people. If you have an ileostomy, omit the pumpkin seeds. Beetroot may change the colour of your output so don’t be alarmed! Omit the salad leaves if you can’t digest them easily. Golden Goats…

Former Member
Planned Community Maintenance - 11th August, 7am-10am

Hi everyone, We’re writing this afternoon with an important update. Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 11 th August , the Community will be entering a read only state from 7am until 10am . This is to allow us to fix two issues that we know users are experiencing just now. This maintenance will fix the below: Logging in issue where users are receiving the error message ‘the user already exists’. See below a screenshot of the error message: Being logged out every 30 minutes or so. Whilst in a read only state, you will still be able to view the Community and read all of the discussions on the site, but you will not be able to log in or post. The main Macmillan website (macmillan.org) will also be unavailable from 7am-10am. If you feel you need some support in the meantime, please remember…

Ellen - Macmillan
Cancer & Me 35 Years On - Vol 3 - The Journey Home

Fantasy (batik) by Willo Today in our Community News blog Willo is back with the third instalment of our 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 2 – Best Friends Forever, you can click here to catch up. It was early February – still hot when I flew from Lusaka to winter in Germany, where I had to catch a connecting flight. When we reached Frankfurt the pilot announced it was minus nine degrees, but with the wind-chill factor it was -16°. The passengers gasped when the doors opened and the cold…

Former Member
“One night I was woken up with an odd feeling.” – Alyson’s story

This week in Community news we’re sharing Alyson’s story and experiences with Renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer, from her first diagnosis to today. At the age of 20 years old, I emigrated to South Africa with my then husband Gerard. At the age of 40 years old I was working as a Logistics Manager for Howden Safanco and had been divorced for 2 years. I had by this time two daughters, Kimberley (16 years old) and Katherine (15 years old) and I was holding down a very busy lifestyle. "One night I was woken up with an odd feeling." I started feeling very tired and had a niggly pain in my right kidney, which I thought could be the start of kidney stones or something. I wasn’t one for running to the doctor all the time so I just put up with it. The pain wasn’t excruciating. One night…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Online Community! The new platform is now live, and we’re so happy to share it with you. So please take a look around! The site looks and feels different, but all your groups and content remain the same. When you log in for the first time, you will be prompted to reset your password for security purposes. Once you’ve reset your password, you’ll be able to log in, explore content and post as normal. If you’d like to find out more about why this upgrade has taken place, please take a look at our blog here . Highlights Bookmarks – you’ll now be able to “bookmark” and easily access specific discussion threads, groups or blogs Better search feature – searching for content on the site will now work more smoothly, helping you to get to the content you need quicker…

Eliza -Online Community Team
It's almost time!

Hi everyone, Last week, the Community team blogged about some important changes that are going to happen from Monday 27 th July. With only a few days to go before the upgrade, we wanted to reach out with a reminder about what to expect. We know how important the Online Community is to you and all our members. While this upgrade marks a new beginning for the Community, the site will still continue to be a source of comfort and support for everyone affected by cancer in the same ways it always has. Key changes and what to expect On Monday 27 th July , the Community will experience some ‘downtime’. This means that the site will not be available from approximately 9am-5pm. The site will then enter a ‘read only’ mode until Wednesday 29 th July. This means you will be able to view and…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Technical problems on the Community

As you may be aware, the Online Community wasn’t quite working this morning (20 June). The Community is now back up and running and should be working as normal for everyone. We're so sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused as we really understand that the Community is an important source of support for many members. If you are continuing to have any technical problems, such as being unable to post on the site, please let the Community team know via email to community@macmillan.org.uk . Please note we might not be able to fix all technical problems immediately. However, we’ll do our best to help everyone as soon as possible. If you’re having any issues accessing the Community and would really like to talk to someone for some emotional support, please remember you can contact our…

Eliza -Online Community Team
Pride - Supporting LGBT+ people affected by cancer

The month of June has been celebrated as Pride month for the LGBT+ community for decades. For the first time in recent memory, there will be no Pride marches across the UK this year. We didn’t want to let that stop us celebrating this important time, alongside recognising how much there is still to do to support equality. Macmillan and the Online Community are here for everyone affected by cancer, no matter how you identify or who you love. If you’re wondering why we’re talking about Pride, check out the Macmillan cancer information team’s blog post here . An estimated 1.2 million people in the UK identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, while other estimates suggest this could be as high as 3.6 million. Macmillan’s Emerging Picture report acknowledges that accurate figures on sexuality and…

Eliza -Online Community Team
'Advice to Bureaucrats' by Michael

As lockdown is eased, yet shielding measures for many are extended, we wanted to share a poem with you from our guest writer Michael. ADVICE TO BUREAUCRATS It falls to you to draft a shielding letter Of weighty pages, not too clear, for someone Who has an underlying health condition, The relevance of which he may not know. Ensure you couch the information in Alarmist terms, including dicta aimed At other people rather than himself; Omit important pertinent personal details, Above all why he is included in This current noble process; for best results Print out a list of all diseases known To indicate great vulnerability Yet have no claim on his known dispositions; Don’t mention why the letter might be sent Well after start of lockdown, nor if the clearly Arbitrary…

Tom C - 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