If someone in your family has cancer, you might want to know more. We have information about what cancer is that you might find helpful.
If they give their permission, you could ask to speak with their doctors.
To make things clearer, we have a list of common medical words and phrases that the doctors and nurses might use.
Many people worry about getting cancer. If someone in your family has cancer, you may be worried that it will be passed on from one generation to another (inherited).
But most cancers are not caused by inherited cancer genes. Doctors think that only 2 or 3 in every 100 cancers may be an inherited cancer.
Watch our animation about how cancer starts in our cells.
Watch our animation about how cancer starts in our cells.
Back to Young people looking after someone with cancer
A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who looks after someone who is ill.
Any young carer can have a young carer’s assessment to find out what help you and your family might need.
Being a young carer can sometimes affect school or college.
There are lots of places you can go to for support as a young carer.
You may meet lots of health and social care professionals when you are a young carer.
You might hear lots of medical words and phrases and want to know what they mean.
Cancer can lead to extra expenses. By assessing your situation, you can plan ahead to meet your needs.
Our volunteers offer practical and emotional support to people affected by cancer. We want to make sure no one goes through cancer alone.
Our local centres offer free, confidential information and support. If you or a loved one has questions about cancer, we’re here.
Our Online Community is always open and full of people ready to support you.
If you’d like to talk about something that isn’t covered in our other groups, come here to start a discussion or to see other conversations. Other people may be hoping to talk about the same thing.
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We rely on a number of sources to gather evidence for our information. If you’d like further information on the sources we use, please feel free to contact us on: bookletfeedback@macmillan.org.uk
All our information is reviewed by cancer or other relevant professionals to ensure that it’s accurate and reflects the best evidence available. We thank all those people who have provided expert review for the information on this page.
Our information is also reviewed by people affected by cancer to ensure it is as relevant and accessible as possible. Thank you to all those people who reviewed what you're reading and have helped our information to develop.
You could help us too when you join our Cancer Voices Network – find out more at: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancervoices
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We make every effort to ensure that the information we provide is accurate and up-to-date but it should not be relied upon as a substitute for specialist professional advice tailored to your situation. So far as is permitted by law, Macmillan does not accept liability in relation to the use of any information contained in this publication or third party information or websites included or referred to in it.
