Helpline
One of the sad facts about breast cancer is that sometimes, despite the best available treatment for primary breast cancer, people go on to develop incurable secondary illness.
It’s not possible to predict someone’s life expectancy accurately after such a diagnosis, but people...
We get a lot of questions about breast reconstruction to our Helpline and our Ask the Nurse email service. Here is a sample.
What is breast reconstruction?
Breast reconstruction is the creation of a new breast shape...
...
An innovative drug treatment for secondary breast cancer has received its UK licence.
Patients with HER2-positive, secondary breast cancer and their families will welcome today’s news that pertuzumab (Perjeta) has been approved for use in the UK.
What type of drug is...
Breast Cancer Care's Clinical team went global in February as I boarded a flight for Melbourne, Australia to speak at a national breast care nurse conference.
The two-day event links breast care nurses throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, updating them with...
Every year, around 55,000 people, many of them mothers or grandmothers, are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK.
Sunday 10 March is Mothers’ Day, and we want to highlight some of the ways we’re helping mums up and down the country.
Doing it for Mum
This...
It’s impossible to escape the onslaught of hearts and flowers around St Valentine's day, but many people find that diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer puts their relationships under a great deal of strain. For some, the experience brings them closer together but others find they have to...
For working parents half term means thinking ahead about childcare. But a diagnosis of breast cancer doesn’t usually leave a lot of time for forward planning.
Breast cancer, its treatment and side effects can disrupt normal family routines for months. We know from talking to people...
You’ve tackled the turkey, munched the mince pies, cleared away the Christmas debris and it’s finally time for a sit down. But for many people the festive season can be difficult, especially if you’ve got other things on your mind.
...
Visit our online discussion forums
If you or someone you love needs support over the festive period, our online Discussion Forum is always open.
Christmas and the New Year can be a difficult time for many...
People often call our Helpline wanting to discuss how best to look after their scars following surgery.
Any surgery will leave some scarring, but the nature of the scar differs from person to person. For example, we know that people with black skin or with fair freckled skin and red hair...
While working on the Helpline today, I spoke to someone who had noticed a change to her breast and was waiting for an appointment at the hospital breast clinic, having been referred by her GP (local doctor).
She was feeling really anxious, and worried about how long she would have to wait...
Designed to let women know more about breast reconstruction options when they've had surgery for breast cancer, today (Wednesday 17 October) the UK is recognising and promoting Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day.
It has previously taken place in Canada and the US as part of ...
Every October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the UK, the number of calls to our national Helpline increases. The month's activities bring a mixture of responses.
For some people diagnosed with breast cancer, even months or years ago, Breast Cancer Awareness Month can...
Our Helpline will be closed on Monday 27 August because of the bank holiday.
Our usual opening hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.
Calls are answered by nurses and trained staff...
We hear from many women experiencing hot flushes during or after their breast cancer treatment. It can be tough adding hot flushes to the task of balancing treatments, home life and work life. Personal relationships can also be affected.
Hot flushes can be a side effect of some...
At Living with Secondary Breast Cancer you can do just that. The monthly sessions are relaxed and informal, and you can talk about whatever’s on your mind, whether you’re having a good day or a bad one. The important thing is that everybody understands and you don’t need to explain yourself or...
With the holiday season in full swing, we are getting calls to our Helpline about travelling abroad after treatment and where to get insurance.
Travel insurance
People often find that looking forward to a trip after finishing treatment or while having a break from it can make...
The year 2012 has already delivered a lot of sporting competitions, and now the London Olympics are finally here! Whether it’s on TV, radio, billboards or in the written press, the Olympic rings and Team GB logo are absolutely everywhere.
I have to admit that despite the thought of...
I don’t know about you, but this great English weather has me wishing I could hop on a plane and head for warmer and sunnier climes. Last year we wrote about the introduction of airport body scanners to the UK, but the Helpline has recently started to receive more calls on this topic, so I...
Are you wondering when you might expect to be invited for your first routine breast screening? A number of our Helpline callers have asked about this as they are confused about age extension to the screening programme.
At the moment women from the age of 50 to 70 are invited every...
May was a busy month for the Helpline team. We responded to 110 Ask the Nurse enquires and answered 1,143 calls, both services were busier than this time last year.
Last month 16% of our callers were under 40, 56% between 40 and 60 years old, and 28% of callers being 60 +.
...
Many of you who have had surgery to your armpit to remove or sample the lymph nodes call our Helpline asking questions about the potential risk of developing lymphoedema and ask how to spot the first signs of this problem.
You may be interested to know that often, before showing any...
The Helpline will be open on Saturday 2 June (from 10am to 2pm).
We will be closed on the public holidays; Monday 4 June and Tuesday 5 June.
From 9am on Wednesday 6 June we will be open again as...
Over the past year we have answered over 13,000 calls on our Helpline.
Although three quarters of people who phoned us called about themselves we also heard from others, including family members (12%) and...
At Breast Cancer Care we’re passionate about supporting nurses in the great job they do – caring for people who’ve been given the devastating news that they have breast cancer.
With their specialist knowledge of primary and secondary breast cancer, we know breast care nurses can...
We would like to apologise for the disruption caused over the last few days to the online community. Earlier this week, we relaunched the Breast Cancer Care discussion forum on our new website but unfortunately, we have experienced a number of technical difficulties since then.
We want to...
The Helpline will be closed on Monday 7th May for the bank holiday and reopens at 9am Tuesday 8th May when we resume our normal hours.
As of 5 May 2012, we’re going to be opening the Helpline...
This is a topic that is often discussed on the helpline. When hair starts to grow back after chemotherapy, it may have lost its original colour or have turned grey which can have a huge impact on confidence and self-esteem. So, for many women who regularly colour their hair, it can be very...
In January the Helpline answered 1,136 calls and 1,157 in February, plus we have already responded to 198 email enquiries.
During February 12% of calls to the Helpline were about side effects of treatment and 19% of emails were about breast awareness; these were the top topics for...
Most of us are familiar with the three main risk factors for developing breast cancer: being female, increasing age and a significant family history. But, as we keep hearing in the news, an increasing number of other risk factors are being identified. People living longer is one of them (we know...
Being diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy is luckily not common, but it can happen. This can be very difficult as you may be dealing with the joy of having a baby while getting the news about a potential life threatening illness.
There may be difficult decisions to be made and...
During 2011 our free and confidential Helpline answered 13,399 calls; 2.5% more calls were answered than in 2010.
Nearly 56% of our callers were aged between 40 and 69 years old, with 52% of email enquiries coming from that age group.
The top five reasons why callers phone...
We get a number of calls on the helpline from people taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as letrozole, arimidex or exemestane as part of their treatment for breast cancer who are worried about their risk of osteoporosis asking what they can do about it.
Osteoporosis means ‘porous bones...
In January each year we send out a postal survey to everyone who calls the Helpline so please don’t be surprised if you get asked to participate if you ring in the next few weeks.
We’ve made the survey shorter this year, so it shouldn’t take you long to complete. We send you a freepost...
In this technological age we live in, we need to contact many different organisations in our daily lives – phone companies, banks, GP practices, hospitals. And often when you phone an organisation, you never quite know who is going to be on the other end of the line or whether they will need to...
During November our nurses and trained staff with experience of breast cancer answered 1,171 calls. We also saw a continued rise in the number of Ask the Nurse queries submitted via our website.
Sorry to anyone...
We’re still working to resolve the technical fault from yesterday which is affecting the Helpline phone lines.
This morning we have a limited service on the Helpline but there is no messaging. So if you can’t get through then please try again later in the day when we hope the fault will...
We’re very sorry but we are experiencing a technical fault with our phone system this morning which means the Helpline is unavailable at the moment. We’re trying to resolve this problem as soon as possible.
Please try the Helpline again later today when we hope to be open.
In the...
Each year we conduct a survey to find out what callers think about the Helpline service. This year 241 users responded and we carried out 10 telephone interviews. Here are a few of the highlights from the survey.
How...
October was a busy month for our Helpline team with 1,271 calls answered by our nurses and trained staff with experience of breast cancer.
People from all age groups use our Helpline; the largest group of callers during October was those aged between 50 and 59 years old, they accounted...
It’s the time of year when flu jabs are being offered by GP surgeries. We get many calls on the Helpline from people who are concerned about having a flu jab in their ‘arm at risk’ after breast surgery or questioning whether they can have the jab whilst they are undergoing chemotherapy.
...
Although we do a considerable amount of work raising the breast awareness and early detection message throughout the year, the workshops delivered by the Breast Health Promotion (BHP) team are in greatest demand during...
When the shock of a breast cancer diagnosis affects a family, one of the most difficult things to do is tell other members of the family, especially the children.
On the Helpline, we are often asked about the best way to...
A new search category, specialist clinics, will be launched on our map of breast cancer services next week (Monday 26 September).
The map of services is an interactive tool, designed to...
I'm delighted to welcome you to our new Helpline blog.
The Helpline was one of Breast Cancer Care’s first services and it was set up back in the early 1970s. When our founder Betty Westgate was discharged without any...
Quite a large proportion of our Helpline calls are from people who are worried that they might have breast cancer. Often they might have noticed a symptom but are not sure if they should bother their doctor about it.
We...
It’s that time of year when we start to think about going on holiday and flying off to some sunshine.
Last year we had a number of enquires to our Helpline and...
Due to the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend, our Helpline and Ask the Nurse email service will be operating under revised opening hours. Take a look...
