What’s it all about? Each week Jacqui Drake chats with patients and family members about their experiences with Cancer. What is a podcast? It’s similar to a radio programme, except that you can listen in at any time. It’s great to listen in whilst doing something else, like cooking, driving to work, gardening etc. How can I listen? Click on one of the links below.

Podcasts are a great way to tune out and take you to places that you have never ventured. They show how multi-faceted the Yorkshire Cancer Community can be. They really get you up close and personal to real life situations in hearing true non- fiction cancer experiences, be that as a patient, daughter, wife, husband, carer, consultant or voluntary services manager. They offer fly on the wall journeys without negative pictures in our every day news.

They give hope and positivity so that you can hear, feel and learn of how others have coped with such devastating news at a time when the pandemic changed the world. For people diagnosed and their families, it became doubly difficult navigating through new terminologies, shielding and the loneliness that comes with that, to stay safe from infection. We became removed from loved ones, and adjusted to a new norm with online shopping, pharmacy deliveries, mask wearing and all the rest!

Podcasts offer powerful messages, adapting, and switching to new ways of working so that we remain connected with our cancer community. Your voice matters and often these stories are intimate and cathartic. It can be so touching and an honour, to hear people open up about personal situations that could face any of us in the future. It’s a fabulous way of supporting each other at home. It’s that safe place, where you just click on a link and hey presto you can be free to laugh and cry. It makes you think outside of the box, so that you consider how others manage and you learn new coping mechanisms, hear of support groups or new contacts.

You are assured of warmth and inclusion in these conversations at a time when we can’t give it in person. Are you ready to give it a go? It’s just like listening to the radio, and you can pause at any time. It’s also a way for you as part of the Yorkshire Cancer Community, to shape how you want it to be. Now is a time for flexibility and we want everyone to feel a part of our huge family. As Spring is around the corner we look at new beginnings, new ideas to include everyone. We hope you will see this as a move to reconnect as we have switched to online communication so swiftly, to be here for you.

Your life matters xxx.
Sara Williamson, Chair of YCC (2019-2021)

You can hear lovely Jacqui Drake a terminal stage 4 presenter, twice a week on BCB radio 106.6 FM, or catch up on the saved broadcasts here at your leisure.