Husband not coping since finding out his cancer has come back after 11 years and that he can no longer have a kidney transplant. I don't know what to do

Hi all,

My husband had his left kidney removed 11 years ago due to cancer. Because the cancer was contained within the kidney and they had removed it, he was told he didnt require chemotherapy. In the meantime, his right kidney started to fail to the point where he needed dialysis and he still has to this day.  Now 11 years on he has been diagnosed with secondary renal lung cancer in his right lung. He was told that he had nodules from last year but they didnt need to inform him as they posed no problems. He has only discovered he had a secondary cancer because he was going on the transplant list and needed a number of tests to see if he was fit enough for an operation. 

My husband has now been told that he can no longer be considered for a transplant. He is not coping with the news that the cancer has come back after 11 years and that he cant have a transplant either. He is so down that i dont know what to do to help. I was diagnosed with tnbc and had a mastectomy years ago, so i know what he is feeling, but i still cant help

  • Hi bright.star22,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to hear of the situation with your husband - this sounds very difficult, and I know how hard it can be when you feel like you can't help the person.

    I'm not sure when you found this out, or whether you've had discussions yet about potential next steps. Maybe it will take a little time to process this change of information, and to understand what will happen next.

    I'm sure you will be familiar with a lot of this already, but in case it's helpful at all, we have a section on our website about supporting someone with cancer and taking care of yourself also.

    We are here on the forum whenever you need it, and hopefully you'll get more replies to your post here soon. You can also use the search bar at the top of the page to find other relevant discussions and people to connect with, if you'd like to.

    Wishing you all the best,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator