Treatment for any cancer, including melanoma, can affect your life in many ways. You may not feel the same as you did before your treatment and this can be upsetting. Sometimes treatment for melanoma can affect how you look, or how your body works, or how resilient you feel. There may be practical consequences, such as missed time at work or difficulty obtaining insurance.
If you are investigating what support may be available for you, you might come across the word ‘survivorship’. This is a word used to describe the experience of living with, through and beyond a diagnosis of cancer. As more and more people are successfully treated for cancer, more effort is being put into trying to work out what might be helpful after cancer treatment.
There is support and practical help for people who are finding it difficult. What is available will probably depend on where you live and what the impact of your diagnosis and treatment has been for you. Some support is specifically for people with a diagnosis of melanoma, and some is for patients with any cancer diagnosis. Different types of support will suit different people – for instance you may find it helpful to talk about your experience or to meet other people in a similar situation. You may be looking for more practical advice to help you get back to the activities you enjoy.
We know that living beyond melanoma can cause many people to feel a whole range of emotions. These can include fear, sadness, anxiety and depression, we have a page dedicated mental health and melanoma, which you can access here.
Below you can also find some organisations that you may find helpful if you have completed your melanoma treatment and are looking for some extra help:
Further resources
Maggies https://www.maggies.org
CRUK https://www.cancerresearchuk.org
MIND https://www.mind.org.uk
Shine Cancer Support https://shinecancersupport.org
Melanoma Research Alliance https://www.curemelanoma.org
Working with cancer https://workingwithcancer.co.uk
Life after cancer: https://www.life-aftercancer.co.uk
Astriid https://astriid.org
Sex and cancer https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/impacts-of-cancer/sex-and-cancer
5K Your Way https://5kyourway.org
Live Through This https://livethroughthis.co.uk