In Home Truths: Talking Cancer, people living with and surviving cancer are bravely sharing very personal aspects of their experiences in the hope that it will allow others with a diagnosis and those around them to find ways to cope better with the effects of the illness and to look to the future.
These speakers open up about aspects of cancer that rarely get a public airing but that are real, lasting and often difficult to come to terms with – impact on relationships and sexuality, self confidence and social lives, changed bodies and changed people.
It offers a way for anyone dealing the with this illness or those around them to start to understand and unpick some of the many ways in which this illness affects us – not just physically but also how it can creep into so many aspects of everyday life in the long term and how people can adjust themselves to this.
In episode one our speakers focus on the early phases, during and after diagnosis.
In episode two contributors reflect on treatment and its side effects – which range from physical problems such as pain or neuropathy to psychological, social and emotional impacts.
In this programme we discuss how those left with an altered self after cancer, due to physical, emotional or social challenges, can try to come to terms with this.
The final programme of the series looks to the future and discusses living the fullest possible life despite the changes bought by illness and treatment.
