Today 4 February 2026 is World Cancer Day.
Obviously none of us would choose to be living with cancer.
However, I see it as an opportunity to acknowledge those helping us through treatment.
For me the Haematology Team at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness have been amazing from the very start.
I’m also grateful to my wife who has been there every step of the journey so far.
I wonder who others would acknowledge?
Thank you for this thoughtful post, @DuncanB, and for sharing who you’d like to acknowledge today.
I’ve pinned this thread for World Cancer Day so it’s easy for others to find and contribute.
For me, it was my now-husband-then-boyfriend and his Mum/her partner, my amazing parents (who temporarily moved to help me while I was having chemo), and a group of brilliant friends. I also had a wonderful oncologist (who used to conduct some of our consults in a fake French accent!). I also owe a lot to my colleagues and employer at the time, who were so accommodating and understanding.
It would be lovely to hear from anyone else who’d like to recognise the people or teams who’ve supported them through their journey.
Thanks @Ceri_BloodCancerUK
Sounds like you have an amazing support network to help you.
I think sometimes it’s easy to forget just how dependent we are on family and friends when we get a diagnosis.
I often feel like it’s harder for those supporting than it is being the person going through treatment.
Sounds like your employer has been really supportive too which is great to hear
Thank you for noting it’s World Cancer Day and acknowledging others who have supported you @DuncanB, really is thoughtful like dear @Ceri_BloodCancerUK says.
I wish I didn’t know about today! But here we are and I’m so grateful to this forum and its amazingly brave members who come here and share so much. It’s hard to feel alone here, thank you all!
Since diagnosis my spouse has been such a stable support, keeping the ship afloat while I flail about, and I feel like my nurses and newer haematologist have really buoyed me with their genuine care. My therapy, well I don’t know what I’d do without it and feel lucky to have found a therapist who gets all this.
Aside from my closest friends though, it feels like I’ve lost my family and many other loved ones. Only my dad faces me and this Polycythaemia vera (PV) I’m stuck with, and not one other member of my family has reached out! Friends near and far have stepped back, as if my gene mutation is somehow catching. It’s been a real crash course in learning how cancer can freak other people out!
So I just wanted to say that we here around the forum do really know how it can be to live with blood cancer, the good and not so good of it all, on a day like this which can feel especially lonely. I’m so glad the forum exists, thank you!
Brilliant post @Duncan
Sounds like you have some great support. Without a doubt there’s going to be friends and family who fall by the wayside.
Places like this forum and the people you meet at clinic appointments really understand what it’s like living with blood cancer.
I’m sure we have all heard people say at some point you’re looking well. My standard reply was 90% of the people you see in the clinic look well.
Of course it’s very different if you are or have gone through treatment. You know how you look may not be a true reflection of how you’re feeling.
I’m sure we would all like things to be different and not have our diagnosis. When it comes along we learn to deal with it the best we can.
Aw thanks @DuncanB, I totally agree, and I must say it amuses me to type my name out but for you! It’s a pleasure to know another Duncan now, although through such uninvited circumstances. Of course, in a public space such as this, it might not actually be either of our names and simply borrowed from a favourite character like the Dune or The Scottish Play versions!
If you don’t mind I will borrow your reply for when others say how well I look—nothing like reminding folks that there are many of us out and about living with invisible illnesses! Now if only I also felt I look as well as others perceive me to 
Feel free to borrow reply @Duncan