When you’re facing breast cancer, it can help to be in touch with someone who’s been there too.  Our email volunteers can use their own experiences to answer your questions, offer support or simply provide a safe place for you to express how you feel.

Who is the service for?

Our volunteers can support you if:

  • You’ve had a primary breast cancer diagnosis
  • You’re undergoing genetic testing or have a genetic diagnosis which increases your risk of developing breast cancer
  • You’re a partner, family member or friend or someone affected by breast cancer

How does it work?

You find out more about each of our volunteers using the profiles below. Once you have identified a volunteer who you’d like to contact you can contact them directly using the email address that can be found within their profile. Our volunteer will usually reply to your email within 2-3 working days.

If you cannot find ‘someone like you’, please contact us by calling 0114 263 6490 or emailing someone.likeme@breastcancernow.org . We’d be happy to help you to find a volunteer who understands.

All our volunteers have been carefully trained. Your details and information will be kept private and confidential within Breast Cancer Now. By using this service you agree to adhere to our terms and conditions.

If you prefer, you can also connect with one of our volunteers through our telephone support service.

What support will I receive?

Our volunteers are happy to discuss any concerns you have related to the disease, whether you wish to talk about surgery and treatment or the impact of a diagnosis on another area of life. Our volunteers will usually reply to your emails within 2-3 working days and they are able to stay in touch with you for as long as the conversation remains helpful and related to breast cancer.

Your volunteer will:

  • Read your emails without judgment
  • Offer emotional support and practical tips
  • Share their own experiences where relevant
  • Support you if you need to make informed decisions

Our volunteers can’t provide medical advice and they aren’t counsellors, but they have been carefully trained and have the perspective of someone who truly understands.

I spoke to BC Now nurse for information which was extremely helpful but I felt I needed to talk to someone who understood how I was feeling. I have found the Someone Like Me service to be so helpful in moving forward and finding a positive message to get me through treatment again. I found it therapeutic to talk to someone who understood and it helped me adjust with my thoughts and actions for the future.

47 at diagnosis, ER+ and Her2+, wide local excision, chemotherapy, trastuzamab/Herceptin, radiotherapy, Exemestane, Zoladex, ovaries removed, carer, mental health, moving forward
61 at diagnosis, DCIS, nipple sparing mastectomy and implant reconstruction
38 when diagnosed, DCIS and Paget's disease, four lumpectomies before mastectomy with immediate implant reconstruction
diagnosed at 46, ER+, Her2+, lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, Herceptin, Tamoxifen, Letrozole
diagnosed at 47, ER+ and lymph node involvement, lumpectomy and lymph node clearance, radiotherapy, Zoladex and Letrozole, lymphoedema, moving forward and work
Summary : 50 at diagnosis, mammogram, bilateral DCIS, no clear margins, bilateral mastectomy, immediate reconstruction with implants, nipple reconstruction, lipofill, feelings of isolation, body image
Summary: 52 at diagnosis, lobular cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, mastectomy, latissmus dorsi reconstruction, mastopexy, tamoxifen
Summary: 38 at diagnosis, triple negative, chose no reconstruction, mastectomy, lymph node, fertility, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, new relationship.
Keywords: BRCA1 gene carrier, 20 at genetic diagnosis (no breast cancer diagnosis), double mastectomy, implant reconstruction, support for mum with breast cancer
Summary: 40s at diagnosis, triple negative, lumpectomy, axillary clearance, chemotherapy, teenage children