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Hi Pandora and a very warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but sorry to hear about your journey to date. 

I know from experience having been on my cancer journey for over 25 years with two very rare, hard to treat types of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphomas (one incurable) that navigating this journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but talking with and getting support from people who have walked or are walking the ‘exact same' journey can help a lot.

As you see the Community is actually divided into dedicated Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so you may want to look at introducing yourself to our dedicated……..

   Breast cancer

   CLL, SLL and HCL

   Head and neck cancer

   Life after Cancer Group

…….. support groups. These groups are safe places to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support.

To connect in with a group please click on the link(s) above……. then once the group page opens you will see a [Black - Click to Join - Banner] at the bottom of the page, click in this box and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.

You can then introduce yourself to the group by putting up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.

You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.

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. 

Hi highlander,

thank you for welcome.

iits been good to read your story, you’re a fighter. I’ve been to maggies but it’s a bit of a drive and I don’t drive a lot anymore. Surgery has left me with problematic neck and arm issues. I’m also a carer for my husband so I don’t leave him for long. This is why I decided to try a forum. I’m also not particularly good in face to face groups but being a bit anonymous is helpful to me. Your Nelson Mandela quote is spot on. Faith and sheer determination to put one foot in front of the other drives me. I usually say, I’m still breathing. It will all be done when I am no longer breathing.

Up in the Highlands where we stay it’s not that unusual for folks to do a 3 hrs round trip drive to access the Inverness Maggie’s.

This link takes you to our various Cancer Experiences Group that are not cancer specific and there may be a group that catches your eye. 

Hi, I’m David47. I am 78 years old and have undergone surgery for bowel cancer in November 2025. I am about to start postoperative chemotherapy on capox on Wednesday. I was diagnosed following complete bowel blockage in March 2025, which was relieved by having a stent inserted via colonoscopy. I then had immunotherapy on a 3 week cycle to shrink a stage 3 tumour in the right side of my colon which was successful and I had surgery in November 2025. I had no side effects except an outbreak of exema on the first two treatments and was prescribed hydrocortisone cream which rapidly cleared it up. I adhered strictly to the diet advice throughout my immunotherapy. I was declared cancer free following my surgery, but am going to have a 3 month period of chemo as a mop-up precaution.   The worst pain I suffered was getting rid of the wind caused by the keyhole surgery so have been very lucky indeed. I ascribe this to the excellent advice from my team, and urge any other sufferers to do exactly what they’re told no matter how hard it seems. I kept walking throughout my treatment, averaging around 3 kilometres a day as I could do that in retirement without feeling pressured. Maybe it is a generational thing, but following instructions to the letter in my opinion is the best route to a good outcome.

Hi David47  ….. I see it’s your first post on the Community so welcome.

You have had some journey but well done pushing through.

The Community has various support areas, with this in mind you may want to consider joining our dedicated…   

   Bowel (colon and rectum) cancer

…… support area as this will connect you with many people who have navigated the exact same journey as you.