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    Find information about cancer types, coping with a diagnosis, treatments, side effects, living well after diagnosis & treatment, caring for loved ones, resources for your community and more.
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    Our cancer helpline consultants are ready for your call to support all people impacted by cancer. We may be able to assist with direct support services or by putting you in touch with other people who can support you.
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  • Preventing Cancer
    Discover lifestyle choices to minimise your risk of getting cancer and the importance of screening and early detection for cancer survival.
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    Cancer Council exists through the generosity of the community. Find out how you can participate by donating, volunteering, fundraising or partnering with us.
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  • About Cancer
    Find information about cancer types, coping with a diagnosis, treatments, side effects, living well after diagnosis & treatment, caring for loved ones, resources for your community and more.
    • What is cancer?
    • Types of cancer
      • Bowel cancer
      • Blood cancers
      • Breast cancer
      • Lung cancer
      • Melanoma
      • Prostate cancer
      • View 45 other cancers
    • Coping with a diagnosis
      • Coping with emotions
      • Tests and scans
      • Talking to kids about cancer
      • Cancer and your finances
      • Cancer and work
      • Cancer care and your rights
    • Cancer treatment
      • Treatment options
      • Chemotherapy
      • Radiation therapy
      • Surgery
      • Immunotherapy
      • Targeted therapy
      • Hormone therapy
      • Clinical trials
      • Palliative treatment
    • Managing side effects
      • Fatigue
      • Taste and smell changes
      • Heart health and cancer
      • Hair loss
      • Pain and cancer
      • Peripheral neuropathy
      • Changes in thinking and memory
      • Lymphoedema
      • Mouth health
      • Nutrition and cancer
      • Breast prostheses and reconstruction
      • Fertility
      • Sexuality
    • Supporting someone with cancer
      • Caring for someone with cancer
      • Caring for someone with advanced cancer
      • Family and friends
      • Supportive schools
      • Supportive workplaces
      • Caring for mob with cancer
    • Living well during and after treatment
      • Nutrition and cancer
      • Exercise and cancer
      • Complementary therapies
      • Living well after treatment
    • Advanced cancer
      • Living with advanced cancer
      • Caring for someone with advanced cancer
      • Palliative care
      • Facing end of life
      • Coping with grief
    • Information for your community
      • Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples
      • Resources in different languages
      • Easy Read resources
      • Resources for LGBTQI+ people
    • Fact sheets, podcasts and more
      • Cancer resource hub – fact sheets, booklets and more
      • Cancer Council Podcasts
  • Get Support
    Our cancer helpline consultants are ready for your call to support all people impacted by cancer. We may be able to assist with direct support services or by putting you in touch with other people who can support you.
    • 13 11 20 – Speak to a cancer professional
    • How can we help you
      • Accommodation during treatment
      • Cancer Counselling
      • Financial Support
      • Legal & Workplace Support
      • Transport to treatment
      • Support after treatment
    • Connect with others
    • Online community
    • Coping with a diagnosis
      • Coping with emotions
      • Talking to kids about cancer
      • Cancer and your finances
      • Cancer and work
      • Cancer care and your rights
    • Health care professionals
    • Cancer stories
    • Cancer podcasts
    • Meditation and relaxation podcasts
  • Preventing Cancer
    Discover lifestyle choices to minimise your risk of getting cancer and the importance of screening and early detection for cancer survival.
    • Healthy diet and exercise
      • Limit alcohol
      • Be a healthy weight
      • Move more, sit less
      • Healthy Made Tasty
      • Our Kids Our Call
    • Quit smoking and vaping
      • Quit smoking
      • Tackling Tobacco
      • Smoke free environments
      • Electronic cigarettes
      • Generation Vape
    • Sun protection
      • Slip on a shirt
      • Slop on sunscreen
      • Slap on a hat
      • Seek shade
      • Slide on sunglasses
      • SunSmart NSW website
      • Improve your long game
      • Outdoor workers
      • Sporting groups
      • Buy sun protection products online
    • Screening and early detection
      • Cervical screening
      • Bowel cancer screening
      • Breast cancer screening
      • Lung cancer screening
      • Testicular cancer
      • Prostate cancer
      • Ovarian cancer
      • Liver cancer and hepatitis B
      • Check for skin cancer
    • CanAct – campaigning for better policies
    • Cancer Council shops
  • Research
    Research programs save lives, improve treatments and quality of life for cancer survivors.
    • Research we conduct
      • The Daffodil Centre
      • I-PaRCS
    • Research we fund
    • Search research by cancer type or topic
    • Information for researchers
      • Grant opportunities
    • Community participation in research
  • Get Involved
    Cancer Council exists through the generosity of the community. Find out how you can participate by donating, volunteering, fundraising or partnering with us.
    • Donate
      • Donate online
      • Make a regular donation
      • Donate in memory of a loved one
      • Make a major gift
      • Donate crypto
      • More ways to donate
    • Events and Fundraising
      • Events calendar
      • Fundraise your way – Do It For Cancer
      • Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea
      • Daffodil Day
      • Relay for Life
      • The Longest Day
      • The March Charge
      • 7 Bridges Walk
      • Stars Dance for Cancer
      • More ways to fundraise
    • Volunteer with us
    • Partnerships and philanthropy
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Major gifts and philanthropy
      • Trusts and Foundations
    • Leave a gift in your will
    • Campaign with us
    • Work with us
    • Share your story
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  • Home
  • Linda McSweeny

Linda McSweeny

Linda McSweeny has been a journalist, editor and writer for 24 years. She has worked for national and international newswires and contributed to media including The Wall Street Journal, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Sunday Life and www.news.com.au. Her work also includes writing for the education and not-for-profit sectors.

Linda began her career as a teenager writing for her local newspaper, has worked in the regional media, in the federal parliamentary press gallery and in financial and medical media. She has a Master of Journalism from the University of Wollongong.

Linda is particularly interested in presenting evidence-based science when writing about health and wellbeing. Her work aims to help connect consumers with experts in health care via the sharing of knowledge, experience and updates on clinical practice. She has also worked in the University of NSW Media Office, promoting medical research. Linda’s interest in palliative care emerged from personal experience, when her father was a patient and died in a palliative care ward 18 years ago following a cancer diagnosis.

Recent articles by Linda McSweeny

Why we need to act on Lymphoedema

Photo sourced from iStock The adage ‘this too shall pass’ is often used in society when we face tough times but what happens when the challenge doesn’t go away? For many people who have experienced cancer, the chronic condition lymphoedema follows and lingers. It can be debilitating and it’s incurable. What is Lymphoedema? Lymphoedema involves […]

Palliative care can be a lifeline for someone with advanced cancer

Mike Mulchrone                              When Michael Mulchrone learned the lung cancer he thought long gone had migrated to his brain and doctors mentioned palliative care in 2015, he was fearful of the journey ahead. A year-and-a-half later, Mike says palliative care wasn’t a […]

Conversations about choices for end of life care

Just hours before my father died peacefully in a palliative care ward, surrounded by his family, he whispered that he “didn’t think it would be like this”. We hadn’t spoken about what his death might be like when we learned he had advanced cancer, but I still wonder whether the lead-up to his death matched […]

We need to talk about death

Death can be a thorny topic to discuss, so, many people just don’t talk about it. But having the opportunity to say goodbye and spend time with family and friends when we know we are dying can impact lives immeasurably and offer some comfort and support at a time when all else may seem unbearable. […]

The practical side of the end of life can be daunting

  Muppets creator Jim Henson reportedly specified that nobody should wear black at his funeral and requested jazz tunes. Big Bird sang at his public memorial and mourners heard his advice, made well before his 1990 sudden death, to “watch out for each other…love and forgive everybody…”. Many of us don’t want such fanfare in […]

End of life – you have choices for where to die

Just hours before my father died peacefully in a palliative care ward, surrounded by his family, he whispered that he “didn’t think it would be like this”. We hadn’t spoken about what his death might be like when we learned he had advanced cancer, but I still wonder whether the lead-up to his death matched […]

Palliative care can be a life-enriching treatment

When Michael Mulchrone learned the lung cancer he thought long gone had migrated to his brain and doctors mentioned palliative care in 2015, he was fearful of the journey ahead. A year-and-a-half later, Mike says palliative care wasn’t a “death blow” after all but a life-enriching experience. “When I was first diagnosed, I was left […]

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Cancer Council NSW acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the elders past and present and extend that respect to all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal Respect Symbol designed by Marcus Lee Design for Cancer Council NSW.

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© Cancer Council NSW 2024. Cancer Council NSW is registered with the Australian Taxation Office as an Income Tax Exempt Charity: Charitable Fundraising Authority No. 18521. ABN 51 116 463 846. Cancer Council NSW, 153 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.