Couple and family support

Hi all 

this is my first time posting here my husband of 10 years has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer the last year has been awful last March he ended up in hospital with a heart attack it was then there was problems found with him going to the toilet he was told to report this to the Gp which he did and on 2 occasions they failed to follow through on referring him for morning testing but to us did eventually happen in October 2022 we went through all the test and in January this year we got told he had cancer they have been very good with getting him all the support he needs but the thing we having been asking for is if there is any support at all for both of us together to speak to someone but every single time I ask I'm told sorry we can't provide any support for you we only provide support to the person that has cancer has anyone had this experience or does anyone know if there is any support for couples or families dealing with cancer

thank you in advance Gemma 

  • Hello Gemma and a warm welcome to Cancer Chat, 

    I am so sorry about your husband's diagnosis and I am so glad to hear he has received very good support but I can imagine you must be disappointed that there hasn't been any support offered to you or both of you together. Our information on family, friends and caregivers may give you some good pointers and if you have a look at the section on taking care of yourself, you can find a list of organisations  such as CarersUK which also provide support for carers and perhaps if you get in touch them, they will be able to tell you more about what is available to families dealing with cancer. 

    If you would like to talk things through with our cancer nurses, don't hesitate to give them a call on this free number 0808 800 4040 - their line is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. 

    I hope that other members of the forum will have some good suggestions for you based on their individual experience of the types of  couple and family support they found themselves.

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator