Hi all, apologies if this is not the right place to be posting but I need some help and advice. I’m 30 years old and my mum has been battling with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer for a year and she has also stage 2 breast cancer. I don’t think she has long to live and I have been feeling very anxious lately because of it (not able to sleep and function well). To add the situation, my mum is in New York City and being treated there while I am based in London for work. I don’t have any family in the U.K. and my friends don’t fully grasp the situation I’m going through. I feel like I’ve reached a point where I need some mental health support from somewhere or someone as I don’t think I can cope any longer. I feel very alone when going through this and I’m scared to even think about what life would be like without my mum. I would love to connect with people who have been or are going through similar situations to me. Maybe that would help in not feeling like I’m alone in all this. Can anyone offer any advice please?
Hi leyjl2 and welcome to the Macmillan Community but so sorry to hear about your mum’s diagnosis and prognosis. A diagnosis like this in the family can be such a challenging, stressful and emotional time so you might find this Macmillan information your feelings when someone has cancer helpful as well as this link getting help with your emotions.
Getting support from others who are dealing with the ‘exact same' support challenges can help a lot.
The Community is actually divided into Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) and when it comes to the practical and emotional challenges of dealing with this journey you may benefit from joining and posting in our Family and friends and Supporting someone with incurable cancer support groups where you will connect with others navigating the exact same support challenges.
To connect with a group click on the “Bold Links” I have created above then once the group page opens click on “Click to Join” when the black banner appears or “Join” under “Group Tools” (this all depends on the device you are using)
You can then put up your own post when you’re ready by clicking “+new” or “+” in the top right next to the group title. You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.
It’s a challenging time for you so you may want to use the Macmillan Support Line is open 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00 or via Webchat and Email too.
This service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support or just a listening ear.
Talking to people face to face can be very helpful so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing.
Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community.
