Hi, I was diagnosed in October and initially thought I was ‘only’ going to have a mastectomy and immediate DIEP reconstruction but had a positive lymph node so currently I have had 3 of 8 doses of chemo. Will then have radiotherapy and hormone treatment. I’m lucky to have loads of fantastic supportive friends and family but unless you have been in this situation it’s difficult to understand what it means. Id really like to meet someone else locally so we can support and encourage each other.
Hi Waits, welcome to the Online Community. I'm really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Although it's good that you have a treatment plan in place and a good network of loved ones around you, you're absolutely right that sometimes the best support can come from those who understand what you're going through.
The Online Community is a fantastic way to make new friends and get support. By sharing feelings, experiences, and tips, members can connect with each other on a level not always possible with others in our day-to-day lives. We are really glad you found us, and that you decided to join.
Please don't worry about this at all, but just to let you know, we do have a bit of guidance on making arrangements to meet with people on the forums. In order to protect your privacy and safety, we ask members to avoid arranging real-life meetings on the public forums. For more information about that, please see the Events, meetings and group chats with other members section of our Community Guidelines.
Of course, if you do strike up a friendship with someone here and you're both comfortable doing so, you're welcome to make arrangements privately using your Private Messages function.
With that small bit of housekeeping out of the way, I wonder if you might find this resource useful: our Macmillan In Your Area database. You can use it to search for help and support groups near to you by town or postcode, and you can filter the results by the kind of support you're interested in.
I hope that all makes sense. If you need any help using the Online Community, you can always reach out to us in the Online Community Team by sending an email to community@macmillan.org.uk. We'll always be happy to hear from you. 
All the best,
Matthew
Macmillan Online Community Team
