Heidi on her experience of lung cancer and Macmillan’s Deaf Cancer Support Project

Published: 01 May 2025

52-year-old Heidi, from Cambridgeshire, was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018. She now wants to use her experiences of Macmillan’s Deaf Cancer Support Project to further improve cancer care for Deaf people in the UK.

Lung cancer treatment and communication barriers – Heidi’s experience as a Deaf BSL user

A close-up of a woman looking to camera. She has short hair and is wearing glasses and has piercings in her ears, nose and eyebrow. Her hearing aid is just visible.

Heidi was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018. She had chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery to remove the tumour and a large part of her lung, followed by immunotherapy.

Like many Deaf people living in the UK, English is a second language for Heidi, her first is British Sign Language, so she found the communication around her diagnosis and treatment incredibly difficult. She didn’t always have access to an interpreter, so she often didn’t know what was going on.

Heidi is sharing her story as part of our Whoever You Are campaign.

"The communication barriers were awful. I felt ignored. I was in hospital recovering from my operation for 4 months and during that time there were no interpreters...I had no idea what was going on.”

"I was in hospital recovering from my operation for 4 months and during that time there were no interpreters...I had no idea what was going on”

Finding peer support as a Deaf person with cancer

After treatment, Heidi found the Macmillan Deaf Cancer Support Project, which is an initiative launched by Macmillan and Self Help UK to improve support for Deaf people living with cancer across the UK.

“It helps to know I’m not the only one and I’m not alone. Everyone in the group has experienced the same barriers. They have been so supportive.” Launched as a 2-year pilot, the project offers one-on-one emotional and practical support remotely in British Sign Language (BSL). Heidi received support from one of the projects trained Deaf volunteers, “If I’m feeling down, I know I can text her and she’ll call straight away on a video call. I don’t think I would be around if she hadn’t been there for me.”

As well as the one-on-one support through her Deaf volunteer, Heidi also joined the virtual Deaf peer support group. Heidi says: “We share information with each other, we tease each other and have a laugh. And when you’re not feeling so well, you know you can get support.”

Watch an overview of the project, The video is in BSL and has closed captions (CC).

Despite her prognosis, Heidi still remains positive

"Some days I struggle but I try to stay positive. I still ride my bike, go horse riding and walk my dogs…My neighbours say, what are you doing, you’ve only got one lung! But you’ve got to keep going because life is short.”