Community News - Macmillan Online Community

Our members are here for you

Today we wanted to take some time to highlight the amazing support that our members provide to one another each and every day here on the Community. Whether you need practical info on what others found useful to bring along to treatment, information on what support is out there, or simply someone to share how your day’s been with, our Community cancer forum is here for you. No matter what has brought you to the site, no matter how cancer has affected your life, our members will support you through, and the kindness of strangers soon becomes the kindness of friends. Here on the team we know how amazing each of our Community members are at supporting one another, but we wanted to let the below quotes speak for themselves. “You are probably on the ceiling at the moment and don’t know which…

Former Member
Sunita’s experience with post-surgical menopause, chemotherapy and hair loss.

Sunita was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and is sharing her experience with post-surgical menopause, chemotherapy and coping with her changing body image. There can be a whole range of things to consider when you go through treatment and everybody’s experience is so unique to them. Different aspects of body image are often talked about on the Community and Sunita is sharing her personal journey in the hope it can help you. As a trained makeup artist, Sunita also shares some of the things she did which you may find helpful. My whole world – and plans for a family – were shattered in April 2016, when I was suddenly diagnosed with ovarian cancer, having shown no previous symptoms of the disease. Cancer is still stigmatised in the Asian community, from my experience, with many people unwilling…

Megan- Online Community Team
The Visit - coping with bereavement

Photo taken by David We are back today with the 4 th volume of our bereavement series. This series aims to shine a light on some important topics and key experiences that people may go through when they have lost a loved one to cancer. We began our bereavement series with the aim to normalise discussions around death, dying, and what comes after. Even though these kinds of discussions can be incredibly difficult, talking more openly about these experiences can help patients and loved ones find the right support to suit them in end of life and throughout bereavements. Grief, and what you may go through after someone close to you has passed away, can be a really difficult topic to talk about. It can be especially difficult if you have been recently bereaved, but by sharing experiences on…

Former Member
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

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