Blog Topic: Coping with cancer
“Did you smoke?” This is probably the most common question that lung cancer patients and survivors are faced with after their diagnosis. And it’s an issue: the stigma attached to a lung cancer diagnosis results in physical, psychological and societal harm that doesn’t get addressed frequently enough. Today, I’m speaking at the Australian Lung Cancer […]
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 […]
The holiday season can pose many challenges for people who are affected by cancer. Feelings of loneliness, isolation and sadness are common. Cancer Council Information and Support services are available to assist with your concerns and needs. Self-care and expressing your needs: Give yourself permission to get through this period in the best way you […]
Before Angela was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 she considered herself fairly fit and healthy. An early childhood teacher and self-confessed workaholic, the breast cancer diagnosis threw her life into turmoil and her exercise regime went out the door. ENRICH, an exercise and nutrition program recommended by her oncologist, helped Angela get her life […]
My cancer experience In 2013 I was diagnosed with stage four cancer in my tonsils, throat and tongue. It is called oropharyngeal cancer. This diagnosis was a complete shock. I hadn’t smoked or drunk alcohol for over thirty-five years. I never imagined my sore throat, ear ache and two small lumps on my lower neck could be […]
Cancer can very quickly upend a life. Whether it’s a personal diagnosis or that of a close family member or friend, there will be far-reaching impacts. The burden of a cancer diagnosis is too frequently exacerbated by the often unexpected financial stress and worry that come along with it. In the Cancer Council Pro Bono […]
Kerry Moss and her daughter Stephanie Ewing Life is full of inequities based on our postcodes but when it comes to specialist palliative care, nobody should miss out. The reality is, some people are denied life-enriching palliative care when it’s needed most because of a shortage of specialist palliative care across the state. The latest […]
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 […]
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 […]
Photo: Fred Binge and daughter Teena A cancer diagnosis and any mention of palliative care is troubling, but for Teena’s dad, Aboriginal community leader Frederick (Fred) Binge, extra hurdles that need not have been there, lay on his path. When Fred was told by a doctor in 2013 that his liver cancer was terminal, while […]