Anne Cole

I've never been sick from cancer or sick from treatment physically, but psychologically I knew that I needed help.

And I knew that I was in a really tough place, I suppose.

You know, it's a very lonely time.

It's interesting because you get loads and loads of support.

It's actually overwhelming.

I was completely overwhelmed by the support I got from family and friends.

But you also feel a little bit lonely and isolated because you feel like there's nobody else in the world, maybe, who's going through what you're going through.

And I knew that I needed that psychological and emotional support alongside the medical treatment.

And that's what led me to Sinead and to the psycho-oncology team.

So a six week online course, which was helpful because by the time I started it, I had to return to work full time.

So a big part of me coping with cancer is kind of integrating it into my life and making it as normal as possible in my life, for want of a better word.

So I was able to do that.

There was days I did that from work.

days I did that from home.

I think the thing for me, you know, it was probably the most distressing, it was the most distressing time of my life and I was not being kind to myself.

And I remember thinking if my friend was going through this and they had just received the diagnosis I'd received, I would be so kind to them.

So why can't I do that to myself?

There was a lot of self-blame.

A lot of self-blame, a lot of what if, what if I had done this, what if I had done that, like blaming myself for getting the cancer and for not maybe getting there sooner.

So I found that piece around just being kind to yourself at a time when things are the most difficult, so profound.