No one should face cancer alone

Macmillan has launched a campaign that states, 'No one should face cancer alone'.

Too right! And yet one in four people do. I couldn't even get information about Macmillan when I was recovering. I got the impression - I'm sure very wrongly - that Macmillan only supports the 'big' cancers. I was told that there was no support for me from anywhere and that I'd have to find my own support. Does  Macmillan know that some of us aren't even made aware that they might be able to support us? Could some of the 'one in four' statistics be related to that or doesn't that figure take into account those who are told to 'get on with it'?

Whatever the reality, there is a lack of support for those in whatever stage of camcer, from diagnosis to recovery. I'm still astonished that I was discharged from hospital unable even to lift a kettle without some follow-up care being available.  Nobody wanted to take responsibility. Maybe my self-reliance as an only child, comfortable in my own company, helped me. I can't imagine what it would have been like for someone with a less independent spirit; there were  - and even now are - times when I would have appreciated some support from someone outwith my circle of friends, someone who could take a dispassionate look at the circumstances  Friends can only do so  much and there are things that you don't want your friends to do for you or discuss with you; that additional support needs to be put in place. But should it really be up to a charity alone to provide it? It's a fantastic organisation, but they can't do everything.

Nobody, nobody, nobody should be alone with cancer - and we don't all have family or friends to be there for us.