Hi, I have to agree with Paulus doctors do seem to have a history of misdiagnosis, my mum died 6 months ago of breast cancer with secondary in bones and liver, after 18 months of going to her gp because she was unwell and had severe bone pain, even her fractured ribs were missed on xrays,and since this was the third time she had breast cancer in my mind this should have been the first thing they looked for, when she was taken to A&E when she had severe pain when breathing, she was diagnosed with constipation and sent home, that was after 7 hours of being there, we can't complain about the palliative care team at our hospital as they were fantastic, but when mum become to frail to make the trip to hospital she went under care of community, what a farce that was, she was visited 3 times by a cancer nurse who couldn't write prescriptions, she could tell us the drugs mum could have but couldn't prescribe them, she would have to go back to office and email through to gp, many times when we called surgery prescription wasn't there, so many times my mum was without pain medication, most of the time we couldn't get through to her on phone or leave messages as answering service was full, many times my sister made 20+ calls, the stress came from having to deal with the system not looking after our terminal mum, we were never told about macmillan nurses or given any information. The system needs to be simplified, it's ridiculous they we were chasing prescriptions all over the place, sorry for the rant all. 

I’ve just had a Facebook campaign against Macmillan, we asked for help and were told to go look on the internet. When I complained to Macmillian about that we eventually got told that actually they weren’t Macmillian, they just represented them so there was nothing that Macmillian could do. That’s not a good enough answer and I told them so. Anybody passing themselves off as a company/charity or any other business with the full knowledge of that company should be dealt with by that company. In our case they falsified records, who knows what they have done to others.

Dear Warrcla, I feel so much empathy with you and your family. My husband lost his fight to cancer in Nov 2016. Not only does the McMillan adverts make me bristle but their mail shots are something else. I get asked to leave them a donation in my will and to fundraise for them.

His appointed McMillan nurse, where to begin? I wont go into great detail as it would take all day.

When she ordained to visit him she sat with her booted feet up on the sofa and talked about the upcoming election of Trump. My husband got very aggitated at her attitude as he said making herself at home. The last thing a dying man wants to hear about is her luxury holidays!!

On more than one occasion I told her he doesnt want any details of his impending death if there was anything needing to be discussed she should talk to me. She tended to ignore anything I said,went over my head to Drs etc.

My husband had met tumors in the brain, spinal cord, bones and chest. He had severe mobility problems, so that even a short trip for groceries was a major thing for me. I had to take him with me as I could not leave him home alone so I borrowed a wheel chair.It was old and very heavy,for 6 weeks she promised to get us a lightweight one on loan even suggested I buy one from Boots!

On her what was to be her final visit my husband said his lungs were acting up. She launched into great detail about one of his tumours being on the brain stem and as it progesses he will just stop breathing. After she left my husband said he was scared,throughout the years of major surgery and treatment not once did he say that he was scared although the radiotherapy mask was hard for him. I then decided this woman was not coming back ever! But he died 5 days later so he never seen her again.

I had no care help whatsoever and cared for him on my own. When he died it was very traumatic and very sudden. The Dr on call never came instead the police did and stood over his body for 4hrs I was not allowed near him, by then a Dr still could not be reached to sign death cert so it was handed over to a coroner to decide. I then had to wait 10days for a decision before I could make funeral arrangments.

Two years on and I am still traumatised. I have had 2 biopsies done and should know in next 2 days whether I too have cancer,it makes you wonder if cancer gets you when you are down and poorly.

Pleased to have had the opportunity to get this off my chest Thank You for posting.

Update to post. My biopsies came back with cancer. Now on my journey and have had no contact from MacMillan whatsoever even though I have other health issues and live alone. :-(

I completely agree with people bring unhappy with Macmillian they are certainly not as they are portrayed on the adverts. In fact it makes me sick when I do see the adverts, leaflets I will certainly never give a penny towards Macmillian ever again. 

Clara, I don’t know what to say to you except that my heart breaks for you. So very sorry for all you have gone through.

I have to agree with you. My husband died 2 months ago and the lack of help he got from the MacMillan Nurses, the NHS. andthen the hospice called with an appointment after he died. I  noticed when we did see anyone it was precious time consuming repeating the same thing to them with no decent help. He had to discharge himself from the hospital 2 days before he died because of the awful ward he was on. The noise was unbelievable, people shouting day and night, The staff had made it into a fine art of ignoring you if you dared to go to the desk. I am still very angry about the awful treatment my husband had, and am a bit jaded of hearing what a wonderful job the NHS is doing. 

My wife was diagnosed in 2017, stage 3 breast cancer, had a mastectomy and lymph clearance , 950g tumour - 10.5 cm wide, spread to her lymph nodes.

called Macmillan all they wanted to know was my full financial details, which I refused.

we have had no support never even met a nurse

we will never give any donations to them, diabolical how they treat cancer patients.

we give to cancer research, hopefully they can find a cure

update as of March 2019

my wife has rang the bell, after countless chemotherapy , radiotherapy and herceptin treatments

still another 5 years of other treatments

in conclusion please do not donate to these people

FYI - we have 6 kids and one of them is severely disabled

Personally, I would never donate to MacMillan. My mum had a MacMillan nurse-she had to ask her not to visit or call as she was so depressing and completely focused on my mum drawing up a power of attorney. My mum was perfectly able to manage her affairs and had made all arrangements for when she was gone, so didn’t need this. She was a very positive person and found MacMillan very negative.

In my own experience, I phoned their helpline when I was diagnosed looking for financial advice. Passed from pillar to post, no-one knew anything, couldn’t put me through to anyone, then finally spoke to someone who didn’t know anything about benefits but allegedly knew about pensions. I had already spoken to my pension providers so knew the score, but did not tell him this. He gave me the wrong advice, factually incorrect and very misleading! I knew he was wrong from what my provider already told me. Found him very patronising on the phone too-treated like I was a child, and a stupid one at that. Said I would get a call back from a benefits specialist.

I must have missed the call back because the next thing I got was an email repeating the wrong advice, and telling me to contact them again if I wanted anything else-they wouldn’t be trying to call me again. 

I left feedback on their online survey and told them exactly what I thought! I was a member of their forum, but asked them to remove my account there. It’s very, very “cliquey” unless you have one of the most common cancers, like breast cancer. Their “champions” respond to all posts whether they know the answers or not, and often their advice is very dodgy. I had someone tell me they had never heard of something happening like I had described for one of my treatments, like I was telling a lie! They didn’t even have any experience of my cancer!!! I hated the “welcome to the club no-one thought they would ever have to join” stuff, and talk of the “Macmillan family”. 

I also absolutely hate their adverts on tv. They are simply awful. Right, that’s my rant over, but I would never, ever give them a penny. 

Hi Minska,

My own experience with my own Mum's care was the exact opposite. My Mum's care was well organised and compassionate. When I was diagnosed, the local benefits advisor dealt with my claim on my behalf and fast tracked it with DWP. I guess we were lucky on both occasions.

I must admit that I rarely visit their online forum for exactly those reasons and have very mixed views about their TV ads! 

Best wishes

Dave