Testimonials from our visitors, staff and volunteers

By Gaynor Brown (Jan 2011)

I have found the support from CCC extraordinary.  The welcome you get on entry, the atmosphere created and the services offered have helped me through the worst part of the cancer experience when it took three months from diagnosis to operation.  Since the operation I have attended relaxation sessions there too.  The initial course run for new patients is informative and involving.  Considering that 56% of female deaths in Hillingdon are as a result of cancer this service is essential and irreplaceable.  Thank you to all the staff who contribute to helping to ease the stress and fears that accompany the big C experience.  Long may they continue.

 

 

By Judith George (Jan 2011)

My Mum used to visit CCC years ago - long before a family member of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer.  At the time, Mum used to often tell me to come to CCC with her but I was working full time Monday to Friday.  Around the middle of 2010, I left my job and it was then I had the opportunity to visit CCC with Mum.  To be honest, when Mum took me there the first time, I was expecting a gloomy experience but whilst I sat in a comfortable chair with a drink in one hand and biscuit in the other, I kept thinking that Mum had either taken me to the wrong place or to the right place but to a meeting where no-one at that meeting had ever experienced cancer.  The reason I say that - is that from the moment I walked in, I got the feeling of warmth, care, positivity and most of all spiritual strength from the people I met there.  
 
In addition to visiting CCC, I was also lucky enough to get a place working there on a voluntary basis.  During my work experience, I have with the help of CCC become more positive and confident about the cancer journey.  The staff and visitors there are amazing and it feels like I have known them for years.  We always hug each other and share naughty food such as chocolate and cake.  
 
I am now back to work and am therefore unable to devote the time to work at CCC as a volunteer.  Thankfully my decision to do business in the health and nutrition industry, will mean that I will be able to continue to keep a close link with CCC and the people there.  Bren is among the best mangers I have worked with.  Bren is firm but also understanding and takes time to communicate with staff - these combined qualities are very rare in mangers nowadays.  Her name has been added to my list of women who I have met in life who have inspired me.

 

 

By Ale (Volunteer at CCC)

Everybody goes through a time when all you need is someone who you can talk to and who will just listen to you in return.

Through my own personal experience, I have found that keeping your worries suppressed will only increase them. Talking to someone about your problems and being assured that whatever that has been said will be kept confidential can give you great relief from the burden you have held inside you.

Being able to help out people and giving them moral support through their tough times gives me great happiness in knowing that I have made a small difference in someone’s life.

Although I do not know anyone with cancer personally, I feel that to some extent, having been through other medical problems myself, I will be able to relate to them.

I believe that I am a good listener and will give people moral as well as emotional support if needed.

I thought volunteering at the Community Cancer Centre would be a good start for me as it would also broaden my knowledge about cancer and teach me how deal with different people.

 

 

 

By Irene

Hi everyone,

My husband and I became users of the community cancer centre last summer. The reason we needed the help was desperation! My husband had been diagnosed 18 months previously and he had had successful treatment and was now in remission, for how long we didn’t know, but 8 months after finishing his treatment he felt worse than at any time during diagnosis and chemo.

The hospitals are great, they offer support and help during diagnosis and treatment (if your lucky enough to have a good team) but after you finish treatment you seem to fall into a black hole, there is nothing or no one there to offer information or support or answer your millions of questions and worries.

The medical staff say call them but you feel silly or a nuisance after all, you have finished your treatment you should be well and enjoying getting on with the rest of your life! This is after all what all that chemo trauma was for!!

However this seems far from easy or at times you think even possible. This puts more emotional pressure on yourself and your family, and who helps, who talks to you and provides any of the answers? Its better to be able to talk to an outsider, the last thing you want to do is cause more upset to friends and family, they are your support network through out this journey and it’s hard on them too.

We personally found this the most difficult stage of the cancer journey. We had tried the well advertised routes only to discover that a lot of the local support networks couldn’t help us as we were being treated at a hospital out of our area, because of the specialist type of cancer. Something we have discovered happens a lot all over London.

After lots of searching on the internet and through hospital information we finally discovered The Community Cancer Centre and Bren. And some of the questions had answers and life started to be lived again.

I have been mulling over what my husband said to me the other day after attending a living with cancer course that Bren had organised for him. One of the other members had said, “what’s wrong with me, I feel worse now than I ever did during the treatment” and others joined in the discussion and a light went on, they all had different symptoms and side effects, but all had felt dreadful after finishing treatment, but no one had been able to find or speak to others for this information. Just to be able to say it and have others understand and confirm that this had happened to them too, made it better, no magic wand, just communication, people talking.

The Community Cancer Centre is what is needed along with the buddy system and the drop in centre, a resource where people don’t fall into the black hole, where all the other information, be it written brochures, organised help or people sharing their knowledge is there to be found.

Some one to talk to.

Because that is what is important, without the emotional and psychological help to remain strong and focused that is as much about staying healthy as all the other components that the medical teams offer. We were made to realise this recently when after 2 years in remission we went for a routine check up only to realise that from the time you receive that first bad news you do live with cancer waiting for the next bad news. And again no information on how people cope or information of what happens the 2nd or even 3rd time around, what does it mean? Is it more chemo? Is it terminal?

The only place you are left to turn to is the internet.

Now there are some very good sites, but is that how people should find out this information sitting in front of a screen at home isolated or is it another type of black hole where the information needs addressing correctly? This shows the huge on going need for the Community Cancer Centre and other like organisations.


There should be Community Cancer Centres everywhere; it should be part of the treatment along side the hospitals. And it should be properly funded so that people know how and where to go for help. We would like to thank the staff at the Community Cancer Centre for their help and support and hope we can offer some of the help they have given us, to others.

Translate this site

Contact us

Community Cancer Centre
Drop In For Information & Support
18a Fairfield Road, Yiewsley,
Middlesex UB7 8EX
United Kingdom

Telephone:
+44 (0)1895 461 016
+44 (0)1895 448 329

Click here to report issues or for general website enquires

 

Groups

© 2012   Created by CCC.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service