Coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis is difficult. Emotions are heightened, and the idea of being in a life-threatening situation can be difficult to cope with.
You may feel that you don’t want to burden your family and friends with your problems and fears, but you don't have to bear the emotional issues on your own.
Emily tells us about her experience of counselling and how it helped her during her cancer treatment.
I was diagnosed with cancer at a point in life when you...
The surveys, conducted by Macmillan, discovered that industries that are considered masculine (including construction and building) do not want to discuss their health.
A YouGov poll asked 985 men whether they would report any particularly worrying symptoms, such as a suspicious mole or a lump. 14 per cent of respondents said they would put off telling anyone about it.
38 per cent (more than one in three) admitted to worrying so much about their health, it kept them awake at...
What’s in a name? The Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC) named the disease ‘carcinoma’, after the Greek word for crab. The name was changed to ‘cancer’ after the Latin word for crab by the Roman physician, Celsus (28-50 BC). To hear the word causes different reactions between people and we all have our own unique stories, impressions and ideas about cancer. Counselling may help when there has been a personal cancer diagnosis or that of a partner, family...
We all get those times in life when negative situations occur and we do our best to cope and deal with issues. We may change our attitude, our mind and try to adjust accordingly. At least that's what we may try to achieve, a form of a coping mechanism. Just as one is moving forward, creating or trying to create a space amongst the turbulence of life, the diagnosis of cancer, stares us in the face! There is nowhere to hide, we are challenged with our greatest fears. Like being in a car crash,...
Even if you have never been affected by cancer, you may also question the value of talking about the experience. Talking does not help save lives, or does it? It's not like talking can help get rid of or slow down the progress of the disease. And when one is lucky enough to finish with treatment and able to return to life the way it was before, then what's the point in dwelling on what might have been difficult, on what might have been or what might yet come?! Often people affected by cancer...
To mark Sun Awareness Week (May 4th - 10th) new research has come to light revealing the true extent of our lack of skin cancer knowledge in the UK.
According to a survey conducted by the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD), more than three-quarters of Britons would not recognise signs of skin cancer.
Furthermore, while 95% of those surveyed said they were aware skin cancer rates are increasing in the UK, the majority appeared to be unable to link the disease to sunburn.
Skin...
Should or shouldn’t you tell others when you have been diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s? Is saying nothing wise or cowardly? Is there a right time? Do you tell everyone or a selected few? How will they respond to the news? And can you cope with their response? Why are we struggling with this so much, and what is best for you? Broadcaster and former Loose Women presenter Carol McGiffin has finally revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer...
Statistics can be terrifying. The news from Cancer Research UK that the proportion of those expected to develop cancer at some point in their lives has ‘risen’ from one in three to half of those born after 1960 has an apocalyptic ring to it (Sarah Boseley, The Guardian Society, 4th Feb, 2015). Hidden in the horror is the good news: we’re living longer; most cancers develop in the elderly; detection and survival rates for those with cancer are increasing dramatically. There,...
For anyone who was willing to listen, Lynda Bellingham has given a lot to think about over the past few weeks, since she decided to stop chemotherapy for colon cancer and prepare for her death. Her legacy to us all, especially those facing cancer and other life-shortening illnesses, is that with terminal illness and death, we do not necessarily lose the ability to make choices – about medical treatment, time we have left, where and how we want to die. If we can do that, then we and those...
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has given the go-ahead for a new drug designed to help patients with advanced melanoma - the fifth most common cancer in the UK.
Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) targets cancer cells with the BRD V600 mutation - helping to block the growth of the cancer and prevent it from spreading further. It will only be available for patients whose cancer has spread or could not be completely removed via surgery.
NICE has already given the green light...
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