The Hope Programme

A few weeks ago, when I sat waiting in A&E I noticed a poster on the wall beside me. It was a Macmillan poster advertising a course called The Hope Programme. The course was to help support people going through or recovering from cancer. I remember reading it a few times and thinking “bloody hell…that’s what I could do with right now!” and then feeling a little disappointed because the course had already happened, and I was way too late. 

They say things happen for a reason and perhaps that’s true because after that very long night things changed. That evening triggered a string of events that would help with my recovery and the next thing I knew I was enrolled onto the Hope Programme, meeting with Macmillan and finally face to face with Dr Dickhead again! 

The Hope Programme is run by Macmillan. It’s a course that was set up by The University of Coventry. It consists of 6 modules all aimed at supporting recovery. It focuses on the difficulties faced when you are diagnosed with cancer and how to navigate through treatment, recovery and well life, I guess. When you exit the tunnel of cancer, things don’t quite look or feel the same as when you went in. For me, fatigue and anxiety are the two main things I struggle with as well as all the side-effects not having a thyroid has brought with it. And that’s the case for many cancer survivors, many people are now learning to live with something missing that was taken away for them to survive. And with that brings many, many, many symptoms, anxieties, and challenges. This course equips you with the tools to take back control, because with Cancer you are completely out of control, you have to hand your body over to the professionals and hope they do a bloody good job! Taking back that control can be scary and you have no idea where to start picking up the pieces. The Hope Programme gave me hope…that’s so cliché, I cringed just writing that! But it did.

Each day I complete another part of the course, which is a combination of activities, watching short films and setting goals. What I really like is each day it makes me think of something I am grateful for. It takes me away from the negative and reminds me that I have a lot to be positive about. With the course comes a whole network of people, fellow cancer patients, survivors, and Macmillan workers, all there to help, encourage and support. Remember when I said cancer can be incredibly isolating…when I’m on the course I don’t feel isolated anymore. People understand me when I say, “I’m so tired!” Because they know, it’s not just time to put on your pyjamas and sit on the settee and watch Bake Off tired, it’s crippling tiredness brain fog, headaches, sore eyes, aching limbs, dizziness and feeling sick tired…I need to go to sleep now tired, right here at my desk. There’s something comforting in people understanding that because they’re going through it themselves. Does that make sense?

After I met with Dr Dickhead (it’s not fair that I call him that, he is who he is…it may not be his fault) this time I had a place to go…I didn’t go home and cry like I did after most of his appointments, I went to Macmillan and met Mandy who sat and chatted to me. I cried a bit, laughed a bit, and felt so much better for speaking to her. She listened and that’s what I needed. Then I went and bought a huge coffee because I felt I deserved it, took a deep breath, and carried on, through the tunnel and this time I felt like possibly I was on the right track.

https://www.hopecwr.h4c.org.uk/