There’s been a lot in my blog about cancer, the cancer patient and the medical teams. However, we sometimes forget to mention the close family and friends who are also a piece of the cancer jigsaw. Without these people, it’s possible the patient would potentially have a much poorer quality of life.

I’ve had tremendous support from my immediate family and many of my friends. Some of my closest friends have almost been functioning as counsellors. I’m in a much better place than I was in 2010-2014 but I have a lot of people to thank for some excellent progress.  My son & daughter’s families have all been there for me and although my 4 grandsons don’t fully understand the situation, their presence in my life is a great tonic.

When I look at the make-up of my private Facebook group, I do notice the large amount of “caregiver/carer/supporter/advocate” labels used to join.  Facebook does not allow statistics based on joining answers (it’s unstructured data) but I would not be surprised to find that at least one third of the group comprises this type of membership. I’m also proud to have a caregiver from US as one of my group moderators.  

Perhaps even more focus should be given to those who are supporting, living with and in many cases, caring for cancer patients 24/7 – often routinely taken for granted.