Hello All, my 38 year old husband has been diagnosed with stage 4 mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, which is a very rare bone cancer that only few thousand people in the world have. He was diagnosed last year and he’s been studying very hard to keep himself alive and is proficient in his cancer (with the limited amount of information and studies that is available). We are currently living in Switzerland and that is were he was working as a contractor when he was diagnosed. I followed him there when I was in my last month of pregnancy. Gave birth to a healthy boy there and we were oh so happy and then the diagnosis came when our little one was only few months old. My husband went through aggressive chemo and lots of rounds of radio, we had a remission in December last year only to be told in March that the cancer spread into his spine and he has four “nodules” in his lungs. There is no other treatment for him now, we were told, so we are following Jane McLelland book and used Care Oncology Clinic in London. Anyway the reason why I’m messaging is to ask for help. We are planning to return to UK now and I need to know what we will need to do to get the rice care for my husband. Do we need to go to GP first or go straight to a hospital? What are the next steps once we get back to UK. My husband is still quite active but he cannot work, so I’ll have to find work and our boy will have to go to nursery. Do you have any recommendations for good doctors, GPs in Oxfordshire? Also people were mentioning to me that my husband can have some benefits but I’m not sure how to go about it. I have to try and organise everything remotely from Switzerland at the moment. Thank you for reading my “essay” and any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi and welcome to the online community although I'm sorry you've had to find us
It must be quite daunting moving back to the UK especially with everything you need to organise. I've had a look on the internet and found this information for you which tells you what you need to do to access healthcare from the NHS if you are a UK national moving back to the UK.
I don't know what benefits you and your husband will be entitled to but you could give the Macmillan Support Line a call on +44 207 091 2230. It's not free to call from abroad but the welfare rights advisors are available from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday to help you work out what you're entitled to.
You might find joining the bone cancer group useful. I typed 'mesenchymal chondrosarcoma' into the search bar in that group and did find a couple of other people who mentioned this type of cancer. Also take a look at the carers group as it's a safe and supportive place to share your worries and concerns.
To join either or both of these groups just click on the links I've created and then choose 'join this group' on the pages that open. You can then introduce yourself or post a question after selecting 'start a discussion' and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
When you have a minute it would be really useful if could pop something about your husband's journey so far into your profile as it helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Thank you for your quick respone 
