I absolutely love what I do. I love working on the helpline at Breast Cancer Now and on the Ask Our Nurses service. And often people will say, this is a really silly question. And we're always like, there are no silly questions. You're not on your own. We are here. Breast Cancer Now is here for you from the beginning of the journey, the diagnosis, throughout treatment and beyond.

Welcome to the Breast Cancer Now podcast, providing support and information to anyone affected by breast cancer. This podcast contains the personal stories, opinions and experiences of its speakers rather than those of Breast Cancer Now.

Today's episode is a little bit different. We're answering all of your most pressing questions from diagnosis and surgery to mental health and breaking the news to friends and family. In the studio today, we have the wonderful Jane Murphy, one of Breast Cancer Now's nurses. She's been answering patients' questions for 40 years. And she's a living, breathing encyclopaedia of knowledge. Jane will be answering the questions that are most asked by you via the Breast Cancer Now helpline and the Ask Our Nurses service. This episode is most suitable for people who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer that hasn't spread. But if you're interested in metastatic or secondary breast cancer, we have plenty of episodes you can listen to as well.

Jane, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you very much, Laura. Thank you.

One of the most common questions you're asked is this, I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. I don't drink or smoke. I'm a healthy weight and I'm fit. Why has this happened to me? Yeah, that is something that we do get asked and it's understandable. If someone has a healthy lifestyle to be diagnosed with something like cancer, it can be quite a shock. And I think we do know that with breast cancer, the biggest risk factors are being a woman and getting older and then having a significant family history. there are some elements of lifestyle that come into play for risk, but so things like drinking, weight, but those are much lower, risk factors than, than the other being a woman and getting older. so sometimes it's just, it's good to be healthy and it's good to be fit and it's good for all sorts of mental and physical health reasons. And often if someone's in that sort of starting point, they may well cope with treatment. a better because they're already fit, they haven't got other underlying health conditions. But it can feel incredibly unfair, but we just, most of the time, just don't know why somebody develops breast cancer. It's not a sort of cancer like, lung cancer, we know if you smoke, then it increases your risk of lung cancer. It's not like that with breast cancer. It's just often, we just don't know why somebody develops it.

Another common question is, I just don't know how to tell people I have breast cancer. Where do I start?

Yeah. I mean, it's really hard, isn't it, to know how to tell people, to break the news to loved ones, friends, family, even people at work, your employers or your colleagues. What somebody shares about their breast cancer diagnosis is very personal to them. And it depends on their relationship with the person that they're telling. I think sometimes it can help for somebody to process their diagnosis themselves. So, cause it's quite possible they'll be asked lots of questions or, be expected to know things about their treatment pathway that they don't yet know. So it might be just a case of somebody getting their sort of diagnosis and sort of processing it a bit themselves. But we've got information on our website about how to talk to people and, cause some people we do know, perhaps don't say the right thing or friends and family might be worried that they won't say the right thing. But so there's lots of information on our website about how to talk to somebody. And I would encourage somebody to give us a ring on the helpline and talk that through as with any of these questions. They're great for us to better talk through somebody. But yeah, finding the right time, finding the right place, free from distractions. And yeah, giving away as much or as little as you personally want. would also add to that. to not feel that it is your responsibility to tell absolutely everyone you know. It is okay to delegate. So if you tell your closest loved ones, it's absolutely fine to say, would you mind passing this news on to, know, aunties, uncles, more distant family members. There are certain people you might be able to tell by email or WhatsApp or text in a way that feels less, emotionally intensive to you. And you can take your time with it as well.

How do I tell my children? Again, very difficult conversations. It depends on the age of the children, but we do know that children actually cope better if we're honest with them. giving them information about a diagnosis and what treatment somebody's going to be having in a level that's understandable for them. We do have, again, on our website information about talking to children. Again, it's often children have sort of magical thinking, so they'll often feel that they're responsible or it's because they were naughty that Mummy's got this... diagnosis or they, they're often with first questions they'll ask is are you going to die? And it can be really hard to have those sort of conversations. But like I say, it all depends on the age and the relationship you have with your children. But we do know that they do cope better if we are honest with them, because otherwise they make things up as well in their own minds and might imagine it's going to be worse if they, if they don't know. what's going on and it's a whispered story, know, whispered behind closed doors and hushed conversations. It's more difficult for them. It is also helpful if it's young children to talk to the school because often with children it might be that their behaviour changes as a result of some stress and worries. So it can be helpful to let the school know that you've just had a diagnosis. Somebody can let the school know. So they can be mindful of that if there's any changes in behaviour.

Absolutely.

Yes. And we will point to in the show notes, two other episodes that we did with Caroline Leek from Fruit Fly Collective, where she talks about having cancer when you have children. So looking after them as well as telling them the news and also talking to children about grief, if necessary as well.

How do I know what treatment I'll be having? So treatment is tailored to individual women and men, obviously, because men can get breast cancer as well. And it's evolved a lot over the years. know, historically, it would always have been a mastectomy, so surgery to remove the breast, maybe radiotherapy, some chemotherapy, and treatments have evolved. So surgery does still form, obviously, the main part of treatment. But we have chemotherapies and So drug treatment, sometimes this is given before surgery to shrink the tumour. Sometimes it's after, not everybody would need chemo. The other treatments like radiotherapy and hormone therapy, what will happen is once you've had your surgery or once they've done all the initial tests and investigations and they know exactly what type of breast cancer you've got and the different features that it's got, because they often can behave differently. The multidisciplinary team will meet. So this is a team of specialists, it's surgeons, doctors, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, researchers, nurses, psychologists, and they will plan somebody's treatment specifically for them. So it's very much tailored to the individual person, depending on the features. So once they know everything about your diagnosis, they will devise a treatment plan for you. And they'll tell you about that when you, sometimes it's just as you've had your diagnosis. Sometimes you find out what treatment you're going to have, or sometimes you get diagnosed and then you need further tests and then you're called in to find out what your treatment plan is.

Yeah.

This question is one that comes up all the time and it's one that you mentioned patients, children might ask, which is, am I going to die? That's one of the first. thoughts that will come into your head when you're diagnosed with breast cancer. And we do know that in this situation, we're talking about primary breast cancer, it's a cancer that hasn't spread to other parts of the body. So the idea is the aim of the treatment is to remove that cancer and reduce the risk of it coming back in the future. we do know that it can come back and it can come back many years later, but most women, a lot of women that are diagnosed, well, most women that are diagnosed with primary breast cancer will... live out their normal life expectancy.

So you mentioned different features of different types of cancer. So if your breast cancer is oestrogen receptor positive, what does that mean? So this means that the cancer relies on oestrogen to grow. oestrogen is produced in different cells of the body. And the idea of treatment for somebody with an oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer is to either block any oestrogen in their body getting to cancer or stop the production of oestrogen. So depending on what route somebody's treatment team decides for them to go, they will either have, like I say, a drug to block oestrogen or a drug to stop the production of it. So it lowers the amount of oestrogen in the body and it reduces the risk of the cancer sort of feeding off oestrogen and growing or coming back.

Okay. And what if the patient says, my cancer is triple negative? What does that mean? So as well as oestrogen receptors, which is ER positive, you have progesterone receptors, which can be positive and negative. And then you have something called HER2, which is another protein that's found on the surface of the cancer cell. So somebody is oestrogen receptor negative and progesterone receptor negative and HER2 negative. That is the three that makes up the triple negative. So treatment will be given according to that diagnosis. So for example, if somebody was triple negative, anti-oestrogen drugs wouldn't be helpful for them.

I've been diagnosed with breast cancer. Do I need to stop taking HRT? So because HRT, hormone replacement therapy, obviously is giving somebody hormones that they've lost or losing through perimenopause or being menopausal. If you are diagnosed with breast cancer, then you will need to stop HRT because there is the concern that it will cause the cancer to grow and develop. So yes, usually your treatment team would suggest. as early as your diagnosis to stop HRT, which can be really difficult. And you obviously do always need to have that discussion with your oncology team. You shouldn't ever stop taking a drug or start taking a drug without consultation.

Yeah.

I'm about to start chemotherapy. Can I continue taking my supplements?

Yeah. Good question. Something we get asked a lot. So we're often asked about things like collagen, and we're often asked about different vitamins and supplements. Whether you carry on with your supplements depends on what you're taking and why, because we do know that some can interfere with conventional medicine, and some shouldn't be taken if you actually have a breast cancer diagnosis. it's possible, and in some situations, doctors will recommend things like vitamin D and calcium. So it really does depend on what supplement you're taking and why. so it's always good to check that one out with your treatment team.

Another super common question. Will I lose my hair?

Okay. So hair loss does happen.

Yeah. If you have chemotherapy, then, it's quite possible that you will lose your hair depending on what drugs that you have. We do know that some centres do offer scalp cooling, which reduces the risk of, of hair loss, but in about 50 % of people, I think that is, but it's not available everywhere. That's cold. Yeah, so you have a very cold cap on your head before, during and after chemotherapy. Also with hormone therapy, some women do report sort of hair loss, hair thinning with hormone therapy, which can be particularly difficult if you're on treatment for 10 years. So whether you're going to lose your hair really does depend on what treatment you're going to have.

And if you do lose your hair through chemotherapy, does your hair grow back? Yes, usually your hair does grow back, absolutely. It might take three to six months for it to start. It's being what you'd consider a reasonable coverage. It might come back differently. It might come back a different colour or a different texture. So that can happen. There are some drugs that there have been reports of some permanent hair loss, but that is rare. So if you've got any concerns about hair loss. If you're having chemo, then do speak to your treatment team.

My surgery isn't scheduled for another three weeks. Will the cancer spread in that time? Again, very common question. And I worry if there's any kind of delay with starting treatment. I think because we know the emphasis is on starting treatment as soon as possible, we think that kind of means immediately, but we do have this window of time. and they wouldn't allow a wait if it wasn't safe to do so. And it's important that you have all the tests and investigations to find out absolutely everything about your cancer. So that can sometimes delay the start of treatment, but it shouldn't make a difference to your long-term outcomes.

And is there anything you can be doing in that time to make it less likely that it will spread? There's nothing you can do. All you can do is perhaps prepare for surgery, plan, it's more those practical things to use that time for, whether that's, getting ready for you staying in hospital, although you don't stay in very long nowadays, but getting a food shopping, stocking the freezer, making arrangements for childcare if you need to, getting whatever support in place would be helpful. So it's more if you can spend the time on that practical preparation. there's not anything you can sort of do to reduce, to stop that from happening. But, I could say if your, your treatment team thought that was likely, then they would start perhaps chemotherapy straight away if they were concerned about cancer spreading while you waited.

And I know from previous episodes of this podcast, that if you're doing exercise, it's also great to continue doing that exercise in the run up to your surgery as a sort of prehabilitation, because actually the fitter you are, the more, the more quickly you're likely to bounce back after surgery and recover. It's a bit like going back to the first question about, having a healthy lifestyle.

Yeah. If you can keep up with exercise, keep up with, know, whatever it is you do for your own physical or mental health in preparation. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. I have breast cancer in my left breast, but I want both breasts removed. My surgeon says this isn't necessary and I only need a lumpectomy. What should I do?

Okay. So it's good that you've sort of talked to your doctor about this, your surgeon about your wishes. Often that is one of the first things women think is I want my breast off or I want both breasts off. We know that isn't usually necessary for somebody unless they've perhaps got a faulty inherited altered gene where removing both breasts is reducing the risk of more cancer or another cancer later on down the line. But doctors or surgeons are reluctant to remove a healthy breast. You can't undo it once it's done. Breastfeeding, yes, you won't be able to breastfeed if you're of childbearing age and aren't going to have children. So there are sort of lots of reasons. So there's no real evidence that removing both breasts is going to be of benefit, like I said, unless you have got an inherited altered gene.

Yeah, I do remember that being a real big question for me actually when I had surgery, which I did just have on one side, the wide local excision or the lumpectomy. But I remember wanting to get a genetic test, which we'll talk about in a minute, and thinking in my head, this phrase that comes up a lot, which is that my breasts are a ticking time bomb, you know. but I was also advised to just go for the simple lumpectomy, which is what I did. so another question on that same, theme, I'm having a mastectomy with reconstruction and I've heard there are different types. How do I choose?

Okay. Yes, there are lots of different types now of breast reconstruction. The simplest, most straightforward is a, an implant based reconstruction. but Surgeons can use tissue from other parts of your body to create a new breast shape. So that could be from the abdomen, from the inner thigh, from the buttock. Often what type you have will depend on sort of your body shape, your body size, what your preference is, what you want the reconstructed breast to. look like and feel like it's, yeah. So the options that are available, your surgeon will talk through with you, what are the best options for you and why. And then once you've narrowed it down, it's a question of making a decision that's right for you.

And you can choose to go flat if you wanted to not have the reconstruction. Yeah, I mean, some women can't have a reconstruction for various reasons or some women... decide to remain flat that you can have a reconstruct reconstructions are either done immediately at the same time as the original mastectomy or they can be done at a later date and some women decide they'll see what living flat is like and for lot of women that's absolutely fine.

Yeah. Or perhaps just don't want to have another surgery understandably.

Yeah.

And can we just talk briefly about nipples as well? I believe you can have, sometimes you have the nipple surgery separately later on.

Yes. So you can have reconstruction of the nipple later day. There's also options to have sort of 3D tattooing. So you don't have a skin graft in or nipple created from parts of your body, but you can have a 3D nipple tattoo to create the look of a nipple.

Amazing. And I believe that you can also get brochures that show you lots of examples of all the different types. to give you an idea of what to expect.

Yes.

Yeah. I mean, with our information, it's sort of diagrams. I think what's difficult with photos, sometimes that can be really helpful, but sometimes you might only see the selection of the best results. Yeah, of course. so it's important to be aware of what complications can occur afterwards as well.

Okay. I really need to speak to someone else who's been through this. Can you help? Yes, we can. So we've got a fantastic service called Someone Like Me. So we can put you in touch with one of our volunteers, trained volunteers who's had the same diagnosis, similar treatment, maybe at a similar age. And they're sort of trained to support somebody going through that now. And that peer support can be really helpful, really beneficial. So yeah, we absolutely can. And I'd recommend that service.

Okay. And we'll at the end of this episode, we'll... share the numbers and all the ways to get in touch with you.

I'm premenopausal and I really want to have children or perhaps I don't know whether I want to have children. How will treatment affect my fertility? Yeah, good question. dealing with the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis at a young age as well as the possibility of infertility as a result of treatment is another sort of thing to deal with. Chemotherapy can affect fertility mainly as can hormone therapy and it depends on what age you are when you have chemotherapy as to whether periods will return afterwards or not. The closer someone is to their natural menopause the more likely they're going to be tipped into that menopause if they have chemo. The important thing is to speak to your specialist team. They will, if they haven't already... said that they're not asked, but it's likely they would suggest referral to a fertility specialist as soon as possible to avoid any kind of delays with treatment.

How can I go about egg freezing and is it safe? So whether egg freezing is an option for you really does depend on your individual situation. The best thing to do would be to discuss that with a fertility specialist. We do have information on our website about it, but it might be an option, but it really does just depend on your individual situation.

Should I request a gene test? And if so, how do I get a gene test? Okay, so we do know that an altered gene can increase the risk of somebody developing breast cancer. And often people think if they've got a family member with breast cancer or they themselves have got breast cancer, then it must run in their family. Because it's so common, one in seven women will develop breast cancer, it's not unusual for families to have... somebody with breast cancer in it. but we only know, we know only about five to 10 % of breast cancer cases are caused by this, an altered gene. So whether you needed a gene test would really depend on your age, type of breast cancer you have. If there was anyone else in the family with sort of breast or ovarian cancer. and if there were, and there's certain criteria, then your treatment team would be referring you to, either a, family history clinic or genetic centre for a thorough assessment. And then they would decide whether an actual gene test was necessary. And if you're personally concerned about it, do you just ask your oncologist or nurse, can I get a referral? Do I need a gene test? Yeah, it would be, would I need a gene test? Would I need a, or a genetic assessment? Because sometimes you might have a genetic assessment and a gene test isn't necessary. So would be, having the assessment. asking your treatment team.

I'm worried about my daughters. Are they at risk of breast cancer because I've been diagnosed? Again, it comes back to that question of, whether a cancer has been just developed because you're getting older and you're a woman or whether it is in your family. So that would depend again on someone's age and also the type of breast cancer they had and whether anyone else is in the family. But it doesn't necessarily mean that your daughters would develop breast cancer because you have it. No, it's not definite. And of course, if you do have a gene alteration and you do have children, it's daughters and sons. Is there any children that could inherit that gene mutation? it's not guaranteed that they would inherit it. It's a 50%. Yeah, 50-50 chance. 50-50 chance of getting it.

We're covering quite a lot of heavy topics here. And I'm aware that you, as a nurse at Breast Cancer Now, get asked so many difficult questions by probably so many very scared and emotional patients and people. What's the experience like for you as a nurse and for so many years helping these patients? do you get affected emotionally by it? I think, yeah, I mean, that's a really good question. And I think we wouldn't be human if some cause didn't sort of affect us and, they stay with us perhaps for a little while when we wonder what happened in that situation. I mean, I absolutely love what I do. I love working on the helpline at Breast Cancer Now and on the Ask Our Nurses service. And often people will say, this is a really silly question. And we're always like, there are no silly questions. I've got a great team of nurses that I work with, we're all very supportive of each other. we can always, if we have a call that was perhaps a bit difficult or a bit challenging, we can always sort of take a break, debrief with a colleague. Because it's important if you have a call that you can go into the next call fully present. So it's really important that we do, if we need to debrief and chat things through with each other.

And just on your day to day, I have this image in my head of, like in nineties television when we had those charity call-ins and you saw all the people sitting along the rows of desks and they're just all answering phones at the same time. Is that what it's like for you? Or in reality, are you at home typing on a computer or are you in the office? Where are you? a bit of both actually. So we do have a helpline room in our head office at Breast Cancer Now. What happened as a result of COVID, we set the helpline up from home. And what that has meant for us is that we can recruit, our team that work mainly on the helpline, Ask Our Nurses service are all home-based. So we can recruit from across the country. So, we've got nurses in Manchester, we've got, Essex, Gloucestershire, Northern Ireland. So it brings a much sort of richer, deeper. level of experience and knowledge because it is a national organisation. to have people working nationally is great as well.

And then do you all also get to meet up at times to share information, new information, new knowledge, new learnings, trainings and that kind of thing? So we do twice a year on a Saturday, we come together in the head office at London, which is lovely because some of the nurses only do one or two days a week for us and then they might be in their NHS role. So if you're a nurse that works on a Monday, you're never going to meet the nurses that work on a Tuesday. So that day is a, those update days and those days when we come together is really great for everybody to meet properly.

Fabulous. Thank you.

Okay. Back to having breast cancer. Do I need to change my diet?

Okay. So there's no special diet you need to follow after a breast cancer diagnosis. Often people will... perhaps hear of different diets and think they've got to cut out things like completely cut out sugar, completely cut out dairy. There's no special diet that anyone needs to follow. It's about a healthy, well-balanced diet based on the Eatwell Guide that the NHS guide us all on, which is, you hire vegetables and fruits and unprocessed foods. That's the best diet to follow.

And can I still exercise?

Yeah.

Absolutely. Obviously you may need to modify exercise if you're having surgery, especially if you're having reconstruction. What's important is to follow the post-op exercises that you're given after an operation, which help make sure you keep your range of movement. But as we said earlier, exercise can be really important and vital for mental and physical health. yeah, you may need to modify it. Again, if you're on chemotherapy, you might be advised to not go swimming, certainly not wild water swimming because of the risk of infection. But certainly exercise can be really helpful.

I always think that mental health exercise is as worth emphasising as the physical health angle because for me exercise is something that really, really is massively fundamental to my mental health. Yeah, absolutely.

Can I drink alcohol if I've been diagnosed with breast cancer? There's some different conflicting pieces of evidence. One is five units or less a week is safe. I believe the World Health Organization have said that actually it's probably best to avoid alcohol completely. That doesn't mean to say that you can't, if you want to have an odd glass of wine, don't feel guilty about that because the odd glass of wine here and there is not going to increase the risk of breast cancer. back.

Yeah. I always think whatever treat you're going to enjoy, make sure you enjoy it rather than spending the whole time feeling guilty about it. If you're going to have it, then if you're not enjoying it, then what's the point?

A question that really resonates with me now, did I cause this myself?

No. That is a common question. People often feel guilty. They feel that they're to blame. Especially when they hear that there are some lifestyle factors that can contribute to risk. But like I say, we know the biggest risk factors are being a woman and getting older and having an altered gene or significant family history. But it's a common question and people do often feel guilty about sort of, like I say, their lifestyle, but that is only a very, very small part. there's absolutely no reason to think that you've caused this yourself or you're to blame. Yeah, I think Feelings of guilt are so common when you are diagnosed with cancer, especially when you hear things like, well, alcohol is related to breast cancer, smoking is related to breast cancer, sedentary lifestyle, all of these things. And you think, well, I used to drink lots of alcohol when I was partying in my twenties. And it's, think it's really hard to take away that feeling of, could I have caused it myself? I think so. And what we don't want is anyone to feel that they were responsible for their diagnosis or to blame in any way because A, there's no way of proving it, but B, like I say, that's such a smaller part of a much bigger picture when it comes to risk and breast cancer. So it's how to help somebody make peace with that, I guess, is the most important thing.

I'm worried about being able to work. Is financial support available? Yeah, this can be again an added burden for somebody who's been diagnosed, especially if they're self-employed and they have to take quite a bit of time off work. So I would suggest Macmillan have a range of information about financial help and support and what's available and a team of financial advisers. There's also an organisation called Working with Cancer that can offer advice and information and support about sort of work and cancer. For some people actually working is helpful, it's a distraction or It helps them keep a routine, a normal routine as possible. But obviously for some people they will need to take time off and that might mean a loss of income. So definitely get support from the specialists who can support with that. actually did a podcast episode with Barbara Wilson from Working with Cancer. It's a couple of years ago, but we'll put the link in the show notes. She talks on the episode about... Yeah, what your rights are, what you're entitled to, what to say to your work, how to tell your work, whether you need to tell your colleagues, things like that. that's really, really helpful. And going back to work after some time off can be quite difficult as well. That sort of, know, if you've had quite a lot of time off and going back to work. So that's always good to sort of have a phased return so you don't go back to too, too much too soon and end up taking more time off.

I'm going to need to take hormone therapy for 10 years. What are the side effects and does one type cause fewer side effects than another? Okay, so there are different types of hormone therapy and this is given to women that are oestrogen receptor positive to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. can be taken, the guidance is either five or 10 years and that depends on the level of risk of the cancer coming back. They do have side effects. They all have side effects. There's a group of drugs called aromatase inhibitors, which are letrozole and anastrozole and exemestane. And then you've got tamoxifen, which works in a different way. The aromatase inhibitors, so often letrozole, if someone is post-menopausal will be the first line of treatment. But the main side effects of all of them really is the menopausal symptoms. So hot flushes. Vaginal dryness, soreness, mood changes, some hair thinning, joint aches and pains are very common with the aromatase inhibitors. there isn't that one that has sort of less side effects than the other as such. It all depends on what suits somebody. So if you start taking hormone therapy, give it a few months to see if side effects do sort of peak and then settle down. But if not, do talk to your treatment team because you may find a switch suits you, one suits you better than another. What support does Breast Cancer Now offer? What can we, what sorts of things can we come to you with?

Okay. So we've got our helpline, our national helpline, which is open Monday to Friday, nine to four, nine to one on a Saturday. where, all questions, any questions, anybody's more than welcome to ring and speak to one of the nurses.

And of course, we've also got the Ask Our Nurses service. yeah, so that's separate from the help, the Breast Cancer Now help line. Yeah, so the help line is obviously over the phone, but the Ask Our Nurses service is all the written inquiries we get to the nursing team. And that can either be through a web submission form, it can be through the forums, it can be through social media, so any of our... Facebook, Instagram, can respond to questions on there as well. So you'll get a written reply from one of the nurses. We have an online forum and online communities. That's obviously available 24 hours a day. That can be really supportive, especially if you've just been diagnosed, because there is a section for people recently diagnosed. And if you post on there, then you'll get this support from all the other sort of women on the forums. We have the Someone Like Me service that I talked about earlier where you can be put in touch with someone with a similar diagnosis. We also do something called Moving Forward, which is for people that have come to the end of their main hospital treatment, how to sort of move forward with more confidence. Because often people sort of just worried about the cancer coming back and, adjusting to life after cancer can be difficult. So that's for that phase. We've got a dedicated service for people with metastatic breast cancer, so living with metastatic breast cancer online and face to face. We also have younger women's services. So if you're under 45 with a diagnosis of breast cancer, we have online and face to face support for younger women as well. So quite a collection of different support in different formats and hopefully something. for everybody. And a real wealth of information.

Yeah. And the website has obviously got a huge amount of health information.

And if someone is caring for or someone who loves someone with breast cancer, can they use these services and call your helpline as well? Or is it only patients that can call in? No, they can certainly call the helpline. We speak to lots of loved ones, family and friends of somebody diagnosed. That's absolutely fine. The forums as well. The other services like Moving Forward and someone like me are for people that have had a diagnosis, so not for family and friends, but there is other ways of getting support for family and friends.

And what's the best way to get in touch and use all these services? Best way to get in touch would be through the helpline. So 0808 800 6000. And then we can help people sign up for different services. can start the process for them. And then the support team will get, the Here for You team will get in touch.

Yeah. Let what's in your area. Let when the next event is.

We've also got something called an access fund. So if there was a face-to-face service that you wanted to go to, but you had, perhaps difficulty with train fares and the cost implications, then, and that's something we can help with as well through the access fund.

Oh, that's amazing. I didn't know about that. Fantastic. And obviously you can also just google Breast Cancer Now, Someone Like Me or Breast Cancer Now helpline and those numbers and website addresses will come up. We'll also put some links in the show notes here on the podcast episode. So you'll be able to find all those ways to get in touch with you.

And of course it wouldn't be the Breast Cancer Now podcast without me plugging the Breast Cancer Now podcast. So we've talked about loads of different things today, talking to children, telling loved ones, going through hormone treatment. working with cancer, financial support, egg freezing. We happen to have an episode on pretty much all of those things, talking really in depth about all of those things, including triple negative breast cancer as well, metastatic breast cancer. So please feel free to go through our back catalogue of episodes. We've got absolutely everything on there. And if you can't find anything. Feel free to message us as well and we'll point you in the direction of an episode.

Thank you so much. You've answered so many commonly asked questions. I know all of those questions pretty much I had when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer. So hopefully this will be really, really helpful to people newly diagnosed. We also have an episode coming up for people who have just finished their main hospital treatment or active treatment and are moving into the sort of beyond. breast cancer stage, which can be also quite scary, daunting, let's say. And people will undoubtedly have lots more questions that they want to get in touch with you about. But for now, a broader question, what's the one thing you'd like people to take away from this episode? think knowing that support is out there. I think just to know that you're not on your own, that, we are here, Breast Cancer Now is here for you from the beginning of the journey, the diagnosis throughout treatment and beyond. So yeah, we're here with you.

Brilliant. Jane, thank you so much. And thank you so much to all your wonderful nurse colleagues at Breast Cancer Now as well, the work that you do is just incredible and vital. So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Please also leave us a rating or review on Apple podcasts and perhaps recommend it to someone you think would find it helpful. The more people we can reach, the more we can get Breast Cancer Now's vital resources to those who need them. You can find support and information on our website, breastcancernow. org and you can follow Breast Cancer Now on social media at Breast Cancer Now. All the links mentioned in this episode are listed in the show notes in your podcast app. Thank you for listening to the Breast Cancer Now podcast.